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CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT
FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY

HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE

FINE ARTS

Cornell University Library

NK2230.E16
The practical book of period furniture, t

3 1924 020 511 139

Cornell University
Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020511139

HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIN

AND

ABBOT McCLURE

WITH S50 ILLUSTRATIONS

THE COLOUR PLATE AND TEXT ILLUSTRA-
TIONS FROM DRAWINGS BY ABBOT McCLURE

PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.

FOREWORD

Every book ought to have a definite reason for its
being. In the present instance that reason is that
hitherto there has never been a book of brief compass
and succinct arrangement for ready reference to tell
the reader what he wished to know and all that he
needed to know in order to identify and classify any '
piece of period furniture, whether original or a repro-
duction, that he might own or intend to buy. The Illus-
trated Chronological Key at the beginning of the book
is of inestimable value in showing at a glance the
dominant characteristics of each period style. For
the idea and plan of this Key the authors are wholly
indebted to Edward Stratton Holloway, Esq., of the
J. B. Lippincott Company, and they here desire to ex-
press their full acknowledgment and appreciation.
In the preparation of the following pages the authors
have made an extensive and independent examination
and analysis of much furniture in many places and trust
that they have thereby been enabled to correct some
inadvertent errours and inaccuracies and supply some
omissions of other books dealing with this subject ; they
have also made an exhaustive study of the available
sources and authorities. They desire to express their
obligations to the authors whose works are named in
the bibliography, but especially their indebtedness to
the illuminating publications of Mr. Macquoid, Mr.
Cescinsky, Mr. Foley and Mr. Lockwood. To Mr.
Lockwood they are also indebted for his kind permis-
sion to quote in extenso from his ' ' Colonial Furniture
in America " the ingenious and original analysis of the
forms in which the cyma curve and its combinations

4 FOJtiii:WUitU

appear. For many courtesies and not a little assistance
they record their sincere thanks to Messrs. Richard W.
Lehne, Hale and Kilbum Co., E. J. Holmes and Co., the
Chapman Decorative Co., James Curran and A. F. C.
Bateman, all of Philadelphia; Cooper and Griffith,
Arthur S. Vemay, H. Burlingham and C. J. Dearden,
of New York ; C. J. Charles, Gill and Reigate and Maple
and Co., of London and New York ; Robson and Sons of
London; the officials of the Metropolitan Museum,
New York, the Pennsylvania Museum and ScHool of
Industrial Arts, Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania His-
torical Society, the authorities of Girard College, the
staff of the Library Company of Philadelphia, the
publishers of American Homes and Gardens, House
and Garden, House Beautiful and Suburban Life, and
to a great number of private individuals, especially
Richard A. Canfield, Esq., ,of New York, to whom
specific acknowledgment is made in the course of the
work. In certain places slight repetitions purposely
occur, as it was deemed advisable to iterate some points
for the sake of the emphasis due them. The illustra-
tions have been made from authentic examples of the
periods to which the several pieces belong and acknowl-
edgment to the possessors duly noted. In conclu-
sion the authors hope that the carefully digested
and systematic arrangement of facts which they have
endeavoured to set forth in logical array may prove
helpful to all furniture lovers and stimulate a study
that must inevitably work for a general betterment in
the adorning of our homes.

Harold Donaldson Ebeelein
Abbot McClxjre

Philadelphia, September, 1914

CONTENTS

PAOB

I. Introduction 15

II. Jacobean 29

III. William and Mart 71

rV. Queen Anne and Early Georgian 97

V. Louis Quatorze and Loms Quinze 131

VI. Chippendale 144

VII. The Brothers Adam 184

VIII. George Hepplewhite 201

IX. Louis Seize 225

X. Thomas Sheraton 235

XI. Other Georgian Makers and Designers 262

XII. French and English Empire Furniture 274

XIII. American Empire ^286

XIV. Other American Furniture 302

XV. Painted Furniture 315

XVI. Advice to Buyers and Collectors 330

XVII. Furnishing and Arrangement 343

Glossary 353

Bibliography 357

Index 358

ILLUSTRATIONS

Bavarian dower chest from the National Museum, Milnchen.
From a colour drawing by Abbot McClure Frontispiece

DOUBLETONES

PLATB PAan

I. Jacobean bedstead, Moreton, Salop 32

II. Grmling Gibbon mirror frame 50

III. William and Mary walnut drop-front secretary 72

IV. William and Mary carved walnut chairs 76

V. William and Mary oystered walnut cabinet. Marqueterie

chest of drawers 82

VI. William and Mary oystered and inlaid cabinet on stand. . 86
VII. William and Mary seaweed marqueterie high cabinet.

Marqueterie clock 90

VIII. Queen Anne black and gold lacquered comer cupboard . . . 102
IX. Queen Anne walnut bureau bookcase. Queen Anne mahog-
any comer cupboard; exampleof "Architects'Fumiture." 112

X. Early Georgian mahogany bedstead 120

XI. Hogarthian hoopback, pierced splat mahogany chair.

Upholstered straight top Queen Anne settee 126

XII. Louis Quatorze arm-chair with cabriole legs, goat's feet
and shaped stretchers. Louis Quatorze arm-chair with

straight carved legs and straight saltire stretchers 136

XIII. Louis Quinze arm-chairs with Rococo motifs 142

XrV. Chippendale hoop-backed chair in maker's early manner.
Chippendale chest of drawers. Chippendale gilt mirror
frame. Chippendale tripod bason stand. (All are of

authentic Chippendale origin.) 148

XV. Chippendale bureau bookcase with fretted bracket feet and

fretwork ornament (of authentic Chippendale origin).

Chippendale bureau bookcase with Chinese bracket feet 154

XVI. Chippendale mahogany chair with Chinese motifs (of

authentic Chippendale origin). Chippendale mahogany

arm-chair of Philadelphia origin 160

XVII. Chippendale cabinet in Chinese mode (of authentic Chip-
pendale origin) 166

XVIII. Chippendale bombi mahogany writing table (of authentic
Chippendale origin). Chippendale marble top mahogany

side table (of authentic Chippendale origin) 170

XIX. Chippendale fretted gallery table. Chippendale hanging
cabinet. Chippendale candle-stand. Chippendale .ffisop
gilt mirror (all are of authentic Chippendale origin) . . . 174

ILLiUSTKAllUiNS

XX. Chippendale mahogany console cabinet " in the French

taste" (of authentic Chippendale origin) 180

XXI. Adam sideboard, table, pedestals and knife urns (mahogany) 186
XXII. Adam painted cabinet. Adam painted side table 190

XXIII. Adam gilt mirror and console table 194

XXIV. Adam sideboard table with pedestals 198

XXV. Hepplewhite painted satinwood writing table 204

XXVI. Hepplewhite painted chair, barred shield back, square
tapered legs. Hepplewhite oval honeysuckle back chair,
round fluted legs. Hepplewhite hoopback chair, honey-
suckle splat, straight grooved legs 210

XXVII. Hepplewhite range table, tapered legs and banded ancle.
Hepplewhite inlaid serpentine front sideboard, tapered

legs and spade feet ; 216

XXVIII. Hepplewhite carved mahogany bedstead, fluted posts and

tmdercut floral wreathing 222

XXIX. Louis Seize sofa, arm-chair and stool 226

XXX. Louis Seize long sofa 232

XXXI. Mahogany late Sheraton sideboard. Inlaid mahogany

Sheraton sideboard with tambour work and metal gallery 236
XXXII. Sheraton inlaid mahogany cupboard. Inlaid Sheraton

mahogany bureau bookcase or secretary 240

XXXIII. Sheraton painted satinwood and caned settee 244

XXXIV. Sheraton inlaid mahogany bookcase or cabinet 248

XXXV. Painted caned seat Sheraton arm-chair, vase baluster arm

supports. Mahogany inlaid Sheraton sideboard of Amer-
ican type, sprung front, reeded pillars and low gallery 254
XXXVI. Sheraton bedstead at Upsala, Germantown, Philadelphia. 260
XXXVII. Shearer inlaid mahogany sideboard with fluted and quilled
legs. Mahogany inlaid serpentine front sideboard, heavy
in proportions and probably to be attributed to Shearer 272 .
XXXVIII. Mahogany brass-mounted French Empire console cabi-
net. Mahogany brass-moimted French Empire sofa . . 280
XXXIX. American Empire painted and parcel gUt flap-top table.
American Empire mahogany inlaid tilt-top pedestal

table 286

XL. Mahogany and satinwood caned-back Phyfe settee.
American Empire carved mahogany sofa showing Phyfe
influence. Reeded seat-raU, arms and top-rail. Eagle

legs and feet 290

XLI. Painted and parcel gilt American Empire rushbottomed
settee. American Empire mahogany sideboard, acan-
thus carving and feet and lion's head moimts 296

XLII. Girandole, wall mirror and two dressing stand mirrors of

American Empire period 3qO

ILLUSTRATIONS 9

XLIII. Block front mahogany secretory or bureau bookcase

American, late eighteenth century 304

XLIV. Mahogany secretary or bureau bookcase, American, late

eighteenth century 308

XLV. Eighteenth century American mirrors 312

XLVI. Mahogany card table, dished corners, money wells, round
projecting corners. Walnut William and Mary table of

Philadelphia make. Trumpet turned legs, bun feet 314

XLVII. William and Mary silver and brown lacquer double-hood

cabinet. Painted "Pennsylvania Dutch" dower chest.. 324

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

FiQ. CHAPTER II— Jacobean j.^^,,

1. Jacobean oak cupboard 30

2o. "Monk's seat" 35

26. Wainscot chair 35

3o. Oak Yorkshire chair 36

36. Late Jacobean walnut chair 36

4. Oak settee 41

5. Oak refectory table 43

6. Oak chest 45

7. Small oak cupboard 47

8. Oak sideboard 48

9. Oak dresser of Yorkshire pattern 49

10. Oak chest with drawers S3

11. Oak chest 56

12o. Pear baluster leg 59

126. Melon bulb leg 59

12c. Ringed baluster leg 59

13. Characteristic forms of ornamentation 61

14. Additional characteristic forms of decoration 64

15a. Notching 65

156. Pear drop ,65

16. Characteristic mounts 68

CHAPTER III— William and Mary

la. Flemish scroll leg 75

16. Early "ringed" or collared cabriole leg 75

2. Upholstered square-back arm-chair 77

3. Settee with double arched back 79

4. Details of feet, legs and mouldings 81

5. One-piece highboy, Dutch influence 84

6. Characteristic double hood 86

7. Small secretary 88

8. Characteristic metal mounts 95

10 ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTER IV— Queen Anne and Eablt Georgian

1. Typical chair legs ^^

2a. Knee, lion 101

26. Cabochon 101

2c. Satyr-masque l"!

3. Highly carved and gUt leg 102

4a. Arm-chair 10"

46. Side chair 105

6. Typical shapes of chair seats 106

6. Chair back and leg typical of late William and Mary and Early

Queen Anne Epoch 107

7a. Pierced splat-back arm-chair, Early Georgian 108

76. Square-back upholstered chair, Queen Anne-Early Georgian . . . 108

8a. Pierced splat-back chair 109

86. American rush-bottomed Colonial chair 109

8c. Windsor chair, early form 109

9. Small table of Hogarthian lines 113

10. Walnut cabriole-legged, drop-leaf table 114

11. High double chest 115

12. Queen Anne low chest with drawers 116

13. Lowboy with shaped apron and pointed club feet 117

14. Typical outline of shaped Queen Anne apron 118

15. Typical forms of interrupted hoods or broken curved pediments 120

16. Typical Queen Anne dresser 121

17. Mirror in black frame with gilt lines 122

CHAPTER V — Louis Quatobzb and Louis Quinze

1. Louis Quinze arm-chair 136

CHAPTER VI— Chippendale

1. Carved and gUt mirror 149

2a. Interlaced strap splat 157

26. Ladder-back pierced 157

2c. Pillared splat 157

3a. Ladder-back with hooped top rail 159

3b. Cupid's-bow top rail 159

4. Chinese fret back, arm detail, gadroon carving 161

5o. Pierced and fretted stretchers 162

5b. Fretted bracket between legs and seat 162

5c. Strap pierced splat 162

6. Sofa with arched back and stuffed over arms 163

7. Double chest of drawers, bracket feet 168

CHAPTER VII— The Bbothebs Adam

1. Decorative details 190

2. Bookcase of characteristic Adam contour 195

3. Characteristic mounts 200

ILLUSTRATIONS 11

CHAPTER VIII— Gborqe Hepplewhitb

1. Splat, oval and bar-back examples 210

2. Characteristic chair-back shapes 213

3. Secretary bookcase 218

4. Mounts 223

CHAPTER IX— Louis Skizb

1. Arm-chair 228

2. Arm-chair 229

CHAPTER X— Thomas Sheraton

1. Characteristic chair backs 244

2. Late types of chairs 246

3. Sheraton sofa 247

4. Sheraton Pembroke table, spade feet 249

5. Sheraton card table 249

6. Late Sheraton work table 250

7. Sheraton cabinet with characteristic tracery on doors 252

8a. Three-sectional bookcase 253

8b. Clothes press or wardrobe 253

9. Chair back with fluting and reeding 258

10. Typical mounts 260

CHAPTER XII— The Empire Period

1. Lyre-back chair 278

2. "Chariot" chair 278

3. Characteristic broad top rail 278

CHAPTER XIII— American Empire

1. Typical American Empire details 289

2. Roll-arm, rush-bottom chair 290

3. Characteristic Phjrfe contour sofa 292

4. Gondola or "sleigh" bed 293

5. Pedestal table 294

6. Pedestal drop-leaf table 295

CHAPTER XIV — Other American Furniture

1. Early American chairs 304

2. American mirror 309

3. American ladder-back chair. American "Carpenter's Sheraton"

chair 310

4. William Penn dat-back chair, rush bottom 313

5o. Fan-back Windsor chair 314

56. Comb-back Windsor chair ■■ 314

CHAPTER XV — Painted Furniture

1. Birch mirror frame with Biedermeyer design in black 324

2. Painted chairs of late eighteenth century 328

ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGICAL KEY

JACOBEAN PERIOD
Plate I.

Fig. 1. Wainscot chair.
Fig. 2. Cromwellian chair, upholstered.
Fig. 3. Carolean chair, caned.
Fig. 4. Jacobean court cupboard.
Fig. 5. Late Jacobean marqueterie cab-
inet.
Fig. 6. Refectory table, bulbous legs.

Plate II.

Fig. 7. Gate table.

Fig, 8. Carolean upholstered chair and

settee.
Fig. 9. Carolean day-bed.

WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD
Plate III.

Fig. 1. Table, flat arches and pendent

ornaments.
Fig. 2. Double-hood cabinet.
Fig. 3. Flat-top highboy.
Fig. 4. Settee with double-hood back.

QUEEN ANNE-EARLY GEORGIAN
PERIOD
Plate IV.

Fig. 1. Queen Anne highboy.
Fig. 2. Queen Anne bureau bookcase.
Fig. 3. Queen Anne lacquered lowboy
and chairs.

Plate V.

Fig. 4. Queen Anne wing chair.

Fig. 5. Double hoop-back chair.

Fig. 6. Decorated Queen Anne-Early
Georgian double chair-back
settee.

Fig. 7. Queen Anne flddle-back chair
with stretchers.

Fig. 8. Early Georgian chair, interlac-
ing splat.

Fig. 9. Queen Anne bureau or secretary.

Fig. 10. Queen Anne flddle-back chair.

CHIPPENDALE PERIOD
Plate VI.

Fig. 1. Swept whorl toprail, vertically

pierced splat.
Fig. 2. Upholstered armchair, French

style.
Fig. 3. Ribband back, carved seatrail.
Fig. 4. Interlacing ladderback.

" Stitched-up " seat.
Fig. 5. Gothic fret-back, fretted legs.
Fig. 6. Ladder-back armchair,drop seat.
12

Fig. 7. Gothic fret, splat, shaped arm.
Fig. 8. Squareback, Chinese fret, canted

arm.
Fig. 9. Back showing French influence

in detail.
Plate VII.

Fig. 1. Settee in Chinese manner, canted

arms.
Fig. 2. Upholstered, shaped back.
Fig. 3. Triple chair-back settee.
Fig. 4. Square upholstered back,

straight arms.
Fig. 5. Cabriole leg, drop-leaf dining

table.
Fig. 6. Card table, projecting corners.

Plate
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.

Fig.
Fig.

Fig.

Plate
Fig.

Fig.

Fig.
Fig.

Fig.

VIII.

1. "Spider leg" table, drop leaves.

2. "Piecrust" tripod table.

3. Pembroke table, clustered col-

umn legs,

4. Oval drop-leaf dining table.

5. Sideboard table, Chinese pierced

fret legs.

6. Serpentine front chest of

drawers.
IX.

1. Bureau bookcase, swan-neck

pediment.

2. Cupboard with swan-neck scroll

pediment.

3. Secretary bookcase, traceried

doors.

4. Clothes press, veneered door

panels,

5. Tripod pole screen.

6. Lifting-Ud chest on detached

stand.

7. Tripod pole screen.

ADAM STYLE

Plate X.

Fig, 1. Oval wheel-back, square tapered

legs.
Fig. 2. Upholstered oval back, single

curve arm supports.
Fig. 3. Painted oval wheel-back, square

tapered legs
Fig. 4. Sideboard table with pedestals.
Fig. 5. Semi-circular console cabinet,

carved mahogany.

HEPPLEWHITE STYLE
Plate XI.
Fig. 1. Shield-back, converging bars.
Fig. 2. Hoop-back, wheel instead of
bars or splat. ^

ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGICAL KEY

Plate XI. — Continued

Fig. 3. Interlacing heart-back, single
curve arm supports.

Fig. 4. Serpentine front chest of draw-
ers.

Fig. 5. Painted satinwood pier or con-
sole table.

Fig. 6. Serpentine front sideboard,
tapered legs.

Fig. 7. Shield back, fretted splat,
shaped arms.

Plate XII.

Fig. 1. Upholstered sofa, shaped top.

Fig. 2. Painted satinwood bureau book-
case.

Fig. 3. Secretary cabinet, carved ma-
hogany.

Fig. 4. Bedstead, legs square, tapered;
block feet.

Fig. 5. Bedstead, painted and shaped
tester.

SHERATON STYLE

Plate XIII.

Fig. 1. Square lyre-back, straight top-
rail.

Fig. 2. Vase-back, straight raised top-
rail.

Fig. 3. Square barred back, straight
raised toprail.

Fig. 4. Straight panelled toprail, down-
ward curved arms.

Fig. 5. Turned and painted, rush bot-
tom.

Fig. 6. Caned work, down curve arms,
baluster supports.

Fig. 7. Settee, reeded vase baluster arm
supports.

Fig. S. Sprung front, flap top card table.

Plate XIV.

Fig. 1. Shaped front sideboard, tapered
legs.

Fig. 2. Swell or bow front chest of
drawers.

Fig. 3. Straight front sideboard, Amer-
ican type.

Fig. 4. Secretarycabinet, tambourwork.

Fig. 5. Veneered and inlaid wardrobe.

EMPIRE PERIOD

Plate XV.

Fig. 1. Brass inlaid mahogany side-
board.
Fig. 2. Brass mounted mahogany couch.

Fig. 3. Brass mounted mahogany arm-
chair.

Fig. 4. Brass mounted mahogany drop-
front secretary.

AMERICAN EMPIRE PERIOD

Plate XVI.

Fig. 1. Scroll end sofa, panelled and

carved toprail.
Fig. 2. Phyfe chair, reeded ourule legs

and uprights.
Fig. 3. Scroll arm-chair,Phyfe influence.
Fig. 4. Rush-bottom, painted chair.
Fig. 5. Acanthus high-post bedstead.
Fig. 6. American half-high bedstead,

pineapple posts.

Plate XVII.

Fig. 1. Bedstead with high head- and

foot-board.
Fig. 2. Bureau, pillared front, paw feet.
Fig, 3. Pedestal card table, flap top.
Fig. 4. Phyfe lyre-pedestal card table.
Fig. 5. Mahogany sideboard, pillared

front.
Fig. 6. Pedestal card table, decadent

epoch.

OTHER AMERICAN FURNITURE

Plate XVIII.

Fig. 1. Philadelphia slat-back chair.

Fig. 2. New England splat-back chair.

Fig. 3. Philadelphia comb-back Wind-
sor chair.

Fig. 4. Philadelphia Chippendale ma-
hogany lowboy.

Fig. 5. Philadelphia turned walnut table
and joint stool.

Fig. 6. Philadelphia Chippendale ma-
hogany highboy.

Fig. 7. Late mahogany ladder-back
chair.

Fig. 8. Bonnet-top New England high-
boy.

Plate XIX.

Fig. 1. Mahogany fretted mirror frame.

Fig. 2. Mahogany roundabout chair.

Fig. 3. Philadelphia fretted mahogany
and gilt mirror frame.

Fig. 4. Mahogany block-front chest of
drawers.

Fig. 5. Pennsylvania wing chair.

Fig. 6. Philadelphia Sheraton card
table.

Fig. 7. Philadelphia field bedstead.

Fig. 8. Half-high New England bed-
stead.

The value of this book for practical
pvirposes is greatly increased by the ex-
tensive cross-references between the text
and illustrations; descriptions in each
instance being given direct reference to
illustrations picturing the thing described.

These references are given as follows : e . g.
Plate I, Page 32, refers to the full page

plate inserted at Page 32.
Key II, 3, refers to the third figiu'e on

Plate II of the Chronological Key.
Fig. 3 refers to that figure in the text of

the particular chapter being read. For

convenience the figure numbers in each

chapter begin with number 1.

ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGICAL KEY

FOR THE IDENTIFICATION
OF PERIOD FURNITURE

This Key gives the characteristic articles of furni-
ture in the distinctive style of each successive period,
thereby aiding the reader in identifying the period of
any particular piece of furniture he may have in view.

In using the Key for this purpose note carefully
the shape and prominent characteristics of the article
to he identified and then run through the Key until
those characteristics are found.

Then refer to the chapter on that period, where
numerous other illustrations and full details are given,
and if the article is a genuine piece of period furniture
or a correct reproduction the identification can be
made complete.

JACOBEAN PERIUU iOUB-iooo
JACOBEAN (PROPER), CROMWELLIAN, CAROLEAN

See Text Pages 29-70
Material Usually Oak —

Fig. 1. Jacobean Chair
Wainscot

Fig. 2. Cromwellian Chair
Upholstered

Fig. 4. Jacobean Court Cupboard
Characteri.stic Form and Ornament

Fig. 5. Late Jacobean Marqueterio Cabine
Showing Transition to William and Mary

Kbt Plate I

JACOBEAN PERIOD— Conlinucd

Fig. 7. Gate Table (wings swing out like a gate to support leaves)
Of a Type Persisting from Cromwellian Times through Kightecntb Century

Fig. 8. Carolean Chair and Settee. Covered with Embroidery

Fig. 9. Carolean Day-Bed

Key Plate II

WILLIAM AND MARY PERIOD ItiSS-i/u^

STRONG DUTCH INFLUENCE

Material Usually Walnut See Text Pages 71-9(

Fig. 1. Table, with flat arches and pendent ornaments

^^^^^1 /''-M^^^^l

m M

P- -— ^II

Fig. 2. Double-hood Cabinet Fig. 3. Flat-top Highboy

Inverted-cup legs, ogee arches and scroll stretchers very characteristic of period

Fig. 4. Settee with double-hood back and characteristic stretchers

Key Plate III

QUEEN ANNE-EARLV GEORGIAN PERIOD, 1702-1750
Materials Usually Walnut and Mahogany See Text Pages 97-130

Fig. 1. Q. A. Cabriole Leg and Club Foot

Highboy. Ogee Apron and Drop Ornament

Persisting from William and Mary Period

Fig.

2. Q, A. Walnut. Veneer Bureau Book-
Double Hood- Top Persisting from
William and Mary Period

A. Lacquered Lowboy, Mirror and Chairs. Note Sun Ray Motif on Apron and Shell Carving
on Knees of Cabriole Legs of Lowboy

Key Plate IV

QUEEN ANNE-EARLY GEORGIAN jr-jiKiui^i.""""

FlQ. 4. Q. A. Wing Chair. Note Shell Orna-
ment and Eagles' Heads at Knees

FiH. 5. Double Hoop-Back Chair. Note
Eagle's Head Arms, Collared Ancles and Pteds i
de Biche

FiQ. 6. Decorated Q. A. — Early Georgian Double
Chair- Back Settee

Fig. 7. Q. A. Fiddle-Back Chaif
with Stretchers

Fig. 8. Early Georgian
Chair, Interlacing Circle
Splat

FiQ. 9. Q. A. Bureau or Secretary

Fig. 10. Q. A. Fiddl^a''
Chair, Shell Cresting,**
Feet and no StretcheS'

Key Plate V

CHIPPENDALE PERIOD, 1740-1780
Material Usually Mahogany See Text Pages 144-183

FiQ. 1. Swept Whorl Top-rail, FlQ. 2. Upholstered Arni-Chair, Fig. 3. Ribband Back, Carved
VerticallyPiercedSplat, Carved French Style, Shaped Seat-rail Seat-rail, Leaf Foot

^ Cresting of Knees. Early

iG. 4. Interlacing Lad-
er-back, ' ' Stitched-up ' '
Seat

Fig. 5. Gothic Fret Back.

Fretted Legs, Pierced

Stretcher

Fig. 6. Ladder-back Arm-

Chair, Drop Seat, Fretted

Legs and Stretchers

iQ. 7, Gothic Fret Splat,
Shaped Arm

isar:

Fig. 8. Square Back, Chinese
Fret, Canted Arm

Fig. 9. Back, Showing

French Influence in

Detail

Key Plate VI

CHIPPENDALE P^ERIOD— Continued

Fig. 1. Settee in Chinese Manner, Canted
Arms, Fret Brackets, Fretted Legs and Seat-rail

Fig. 2. Upholstered Shapf
Back, Straight, Fretted Legs

Fig. 3. Triple Chair Back Settee with Gothic Fret Splats

Fig. 4. Square Upholstera
Back, Straight Arms, Singli
Curve Supports

Fig. 5. Cabriole Leg, Drop-Leaf Dining Table

Fig. 6. Card Table, Projectini

Corners, Splayed Gadroon Carving

in Underframing

Key Plate VII

CHIPPENDALE FEmOD— Continued

FiQ. 1. "Spider Leg" Table, Fio. 2. "Piecrust," Tri- Fi<S. 3. Pembroke Table, Clus-
Drop Leaves pod Table tered Column Legs

Fig. 4. Oval Drop-Leaf Dining Table, Straight Legs, Beaded Corners

riG. 5. Sideboard Table, Chinese Pierced Fret Fia. 6. Serpentine Front Chest of Drawers,

Legs Fretted Canted Corners

Key Plate VIII

CHIPPENDAljJii irrjri,i.Ou — i^muiiiunu.

Fig. 1. Bureau Bookcase, Swan-
neck Pediment, Traceried Doors,
Chinese Bracket Feet

Fig. 2. Cupboard with Swan-neck Scroll

Pediment, Veneered Doors, Fluted Canted

Corners, Chinese Bracket Feet

Fig. 3. Secretary Bookcase, Traceried Doors,
PuU-down Front. Writing Drawer

Fig. 4. Clothes Press, Veneered
Door Panels, Chinese Bracket Feet

Fig. 5. Tripod Pole
Screen

Fig. 6. Lifting-lid Chest on Detached
Stand, Pierced Fret Legs

Fio. 7. Tripod Pole
Screen

Key Plate IX

ADAM STYLE, C. 1762-1795
VIaterials Usitallt Mahogany and Satinwood

See Text Pages 184-200

Fig. 1. Oval Wheel-back,
Square Tapered Legs,
Block Feet, Stretchers

Fia. 2. Upholstered Oval
Back, Single-Curve Arm Sup-
ports, Hound Tapered Legs

FlQ. 3. Painted Oval Wheel-
back, Square Tapered Legs,
Spade Feet, Saltire Stretchers

Fig,

Semicircular Console Cabinet, Carved Mahogany, Square
Tapered Legs, Spade Feet

Key Pi^te X

HEPPLEWHITE STYLE, <J. lYOO-i/ ao
Materials Usually Mahogany and Satinwood See Text Pages 201-22

Fig. 1. Shield Back, Con-
verging 'Barsj Tapered
Legs, Spade Feet, no
Stretcliera

FiQ. 2. Hoop Baclc, Wlieel
Instead of Bars or Splat, Drop
Seat, Grooved Legs, Stretchers

Fig. 3. Interlacing I
Back, Single-Curve
Supports, Taperi
Grooved Legs, StretofeiJ

Fig. 4. Serpentine Front, French Feet, Shaped Fig. 5. Painted Satinwood, Half-Round
Apron, Cook-beaded Drawers Console Table, Tapered Legs, Spade 1

Fig. 6. Serpentine-Front Sideboard, Tapered Legs, Fio. 7. Shield Back, Fretted
Spado Feet Splat, Shaped Arms, Spade Feet

Key Plate XI

HEPPLEWHITE STYLE— Continued

Fig. 1. Upholstered Sofa, Shaped Top and Kolled-ovcr Arms, Tapered Legs

Fig. 2. Painted Satinwood Bureau Book-
case, Rectilinear Tracery

Fig. 3. Secretary Cabinet, Carved Mahog-
any, Flowing Tracery, Adam Influence

FiQ. 4. Legs Square Tapered, Block Feet,
Posts Reeded Vase Shape

Fig. 5. Painted and Shaped Tester,

Reeded Tapering Posts on Vase Base,

Square Legs, Block Feet

Key Plate XII

THE SHERATON STYLE, U. liSU-i»uo
Materials Usually Mahogany and Satinwood See Text Pages 235-261',

Fig. 1. Square Lyre Back,
Straight Top-rail, Rounded
Seat, Round Fluted Legs

Fig. 2. Vase Back, Straight
Raised Top-rail, Tapered
Grooved Legs, Shaped Seat-rail

Fig. 3. Square Barred
Back, Straight Raised Top-
rail, Curved Arm Supports

" ^

f /■

Fig. 4. Straight-Panelled
Top- rail, Downward-
Curved Arms, Reeded
Vase, Baluster Arm

Suppor

Fig. 5. Turned and

Painted Rush Bottom,

Canted and Spindled

Arms

Fig. 6. Caned Work,

Down- Curve Arms, Baluster

Supports Extended from

Legs, Splayed Feet

Fig. 7. tiettee, Xieeded-Vase, Baluster Arm Supports, Round
Reeded Legs

FiQ. 8. Sprung Front, Flap-fW
Card Table, Straight Tapered Lega

Key Plate XIII

SHERATON STYLE— Continued

Fig. 1. Sh:ipod- Front Sidobnard, Tapered Less. Spade Feet,
Tainh'iur \\'nrk in Luwcr Part of Central Section

Fig. 2. Swell or Bow Front, French
Feet, Shaped Apron, Satinwood Inlay

Fig. 4r. Secretary Cabinet,

Tambour Work, Shaped Top,

Spiked Ball Finials

Fig. 3. Straight- Front Sideboard, Deep Ends,
Short Turned Legs, American Type

Fra. 5. Veneered and Inlaid

Wardrobe, Oval and Round

Panels, Shaped Apron

Key Plate XIV

EMPIRE PERIOD, 179b-l»i5U

Material Usually Mahogany

See Text Pages 274r-285^

Fig 1. Brass-Inlaid Mahogany Sideboard, Carved Backboard,
Gilded Pillars, Ball Feet

Fig. 2. Braaa-Mounted Mahogany Couch, Swan-neck Finish at
Head and Foot

Fio. 3. BTass-M9Q
Mahogany Arm-l
Square, Outward-
Splayed I;egB

FiQ. 4. Brass-Mounted Mahogany
Drop-Front Secretary

Key Plate XV

AMERICAN EMPIRE PERIOD, C. 1795-1830
Material Usually Mahogany See Text Pages 286-301

Fia. 1. Scroll-End Sofa, Panellfd and CiirvLHl Top-Rail, Reeded SoEit-Kail
and Arms, Cornucopia Knees, Paw Feet

Fig. 2. Phyfe Chair, Reeded

Curule Legs and Uprights,

talm Carved Top-Rail

Fig. 3. Scroll Arm-Chair,

Phyfe Influence, Panelled

Top-Rail, Curule Legs

Fig. 4. Rush-Bottom Painted

Chair, Straight Legs, Panelled

Top and Croaa-rails .

Fig. 5. Acanthus, High-Post Bedstead. Ad
Exclusively Americ"> Development

Fig. 6.

American Bedstead, Acanthus, Half-
High Posts, Pineapple Tops

Key Plate XVI

AMERICAN EMPIRE PERIOD— Vontimiea

Fia, 1. Bedstead with High Head- and Foot-board,
Akin to "Gondola" or "Sleigh" Type

Fig. 2. Bureau, Pillar Front,

Paw Feet, Swell Front Drawers

and Swung Mirror

Fig. 3. Pedestal Card Table, Flap Top,
Acanthu.s and Claw Legs and Feet

Fig. 5. Mahogany .Sideboard, Pillared Front,
Paw Feet, Decadent Epoch

Fig. 4. Pbyfe Lyre Pedestal Card Table,
Brass Paw Feet

Fig. 6. Pedestal Card Table, SaoUed
andVenr- d. Decadent !

Key Plate XVII

OTHER AMERICAN FURNITURE— 1640-lSOO
Materials Oak. Walnut, Mahogany. Maple, Etc. See Text Pa(jes 302-314

Fia. 1. Philadelphia tHat-buck, Fiu. :i. New EiiKiiiud iSplut- Buck,
::. 1710. Ball Turning. Ball Feet C. 1715, Vaso and Ball Turning,

Spanish Feet, Dutch Influence

■4

i'lu. ii. Philtidelphia Couib-

back Windsor, C. 1740, Turned

Le^s and Stretchers

Fig. 4. Philadelphia Mahogan\- Lowboj'
of Chippendale Pattern

Fig. 5. Philadelphia Turnea Walnut

Table and Joint Stool, C. 1695, Ball and

Vase Turning, Stuart Influence

Fia. 6. Philadelphia Ma-
hogany Highboy of Chip-
pendale Pattern

Fig. 7. Late Mahogany

Ladder - back. Showing

Sheraton Influence

Fig. 8. Bonnet-Top NewEngland High-
boy of Persisting Queen Anne Pattern
Cabriole Legs and Club Feet

Key Plate XVIII

OTHER AMERI^JAiN r uxx-i^^ x u^v

Fio. 1. Plain Mahogany
Fretted Mirror Frame.

Fig. 2. Mahogany Roundabout
or Corner Chair of Chippendale
Pattern, Pierced Splata, Saltire

Stretrhers.

trtJ*i-;5i^^vP«V4 '

FiQ. 3. Philadelphia
Fretted Mahogany and
Gilt Mirror Frame, c.
1790.

Fig. 4. Mahogany Block-Front Chedt Fig. 5. Pennsylvania Fig. 6. Philadelphia

of Drawers, Moulded Bracket Feet. Wing Chair, c. 1730, Sheraton Card Table, Sprung

Ogeed Seat^rail, Ringed Front, Reeded Legs.
Baluster Arm Supports.

Fig. 7. Philadelphia Field Bedstead,

Ogee or Tent Tester, Slender Turned

Posts.

Fig. 8. Half-High New England Bed- ,
stead, Reeded Posts, Pineapple Tops, Shera- j^
ton Influence.

Key Plate XIX

ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGICAL KEY

The Chronological Kiij Illmlratioiis appcdi- by Cimiicxi/ of thcfoUoiring:

Plate I.

Fig. 1. Metropolitan Museum.

Fig. 2. Penna. Hist. Wuo.

Fig. 3. Metropolitan Museum.

Fig. 4. Metropolitan Museum.

Fig. 5. Metropolitan Museum.

Fig. 6. Metropolitan Museum,

Plat 10 VIII.

Fig. 1. Messrs. Maple & Co.
Fig. 2. Richard A. Canfleld, Esq.
Fig. 3. Iliohard A. Canfleld, Esq.
Fig. 1. Edmund B. Gilchrist, Esq.
Fig. 5. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.
Fig. 6. Messrs. Maple & Co.

Plate II.

Fig. 7. Metropolitan Museum.
Fig, 8. Metropolitan Museum.
Fig. 9. Metropolitan Museum,

Plate III,

Fig. 1. Metropolitan Museum.
Fig. 2. Chapman Decorative Co.
Fig. 3. Mr. A. F. C. Bateman.
Fig. 4. Chapman Decorative Co.

PuiTE IV.

Fig. I. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.

Fig. 2. Messrs. Maple & Co.

Fig. 3. Messrs. E. J. Holmes & Co.

Plate V.

Fig. 4. Messrs. Gill & Reigate,
Fig. 5. Messrs. Gill & Reigate.
Fig. 6. Metropolitan Museum.
Fig. 7. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.
Fig. 8. Mr, H, Burlingham.
Fig, 9. Messrs, Gill & Reigate,
Fig, 10, Joseph I, Doran, Esq.

Fig, 1, Messrs. Gill & Reigate.

Fig. 2, Messrs, Gill & Reigate.

Fig 3. Mr. Joel Koopman.

Fig, 4, H, D, Eberlein, Esq,

Fig, 5, Richard A, Canfleld, Esq,

Fig, 6, Richard A, Canfleld, Esq,

Fig, 7, John T, Morris, Esq.

Fig. 8. Richard A. Canfleld, Esq.

Fig. 9. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.

Plate VII.

Fig. 1, Richard A. Canfleld, Esq.

Fig. 2, Messrs, Hale & Kilburn.

Fig. 3. Messrs, Maple & Co.

Kg. 4, Mr. R. W. Lehne.

Fig. S. Messrs. Maple & Co,

Fig. 6. Messrs. Maple & Co.

Plate IX.

Fig.
Fig.
Fig.

1. Messrs.
Messrs.

3. Messrs.

Fig. 4. Messrs.

Fig. 5. Messrs.

Fig. 6. Messrs.

Fig. 7. Messrs.

Halo & Kilburn.
Maple & Co.
Maple & Co.
Maple & Co.
Maple & Co.
Hale & Kilburn,
Maple & Co,

Plate X,

Fig, 1, Messrs, Hale & Kilburn,
Fig. 2, Mr, H Burlingham.
Fig. 3. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.
Fig. 4. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.
Fig. 5. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.

Plate XI.

Fig. 1. Mr. Arthur S. Vernay.

Fig. 2. Messrs. Robson & Sons.

Fig. 3. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.

Fig. 4. Mr. Arthur S. Vernay.

Fig. 5, Richard A, Canfleld, Esq,

Fig. 6. James M. Townsend, Esq.

Fig. 7. Mr, R, W, Lehne,

Plate XII.

Fig. 1. Mr. Arthur S. Vernay.
Fig. 2. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn,
Fig. 3. Mr. Arthur S. Vernay.
Fig. 4. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn,
Fig. 5. Mr. Arthur S, Vernay,

Plate XIII.

Fig. 1. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.
Fig. 2. Mr. James Curran.
Fig. 3. Mr. Albert J. Hill.
Fig. 4. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.
Fig. 5. Miss Mary H. Northend.
Fig. 6. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.
Fig. 7. Mr. Joel Koopman.
Fig. 8. Miss Mary H, Northend,

Plate XIV.

Fig. 1. Miss Mary H. Northend
Fig. 2. Messrs. Hale & Kilburn.
Fig. 3. Miss Mary H. Northend.
Fig. 4. Miss Mary H. Northend.
Fig. 5. Messrs. Maple & Co,

ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGICAL KEY

Plate XV.

Fig. 1. Penna Museum and School of

Industrial Art.
Fig. 2. Mr. Joel Koopman.
Fig. 3. Metropolitan Museum.
Fig. 4. Miss Mary H. Northend.

Plate XVI.

Fig. 1. Miss Mary H. Northend.

Fig. 2. Mr. Joel Koopman.

Fig. 3. Mr. James Curran.

Fig. 4. Miss Mary H. Northend.

Fig. 5. Mr. James Curran.

Fig. 6. Mr. Jamea Curran.

Plate XVII.

Fig. 1. Miss Mary H. Northend.
Fig. 2. Mr. James Curran.
Fig 3. Mr. James Curran.
Fig, 4. Mr. James Curran.

Fig. 5. Mr. Joel Koopman.
Fig. 6. Mr. James Curran.

Plate XVIII.

Fig. 1. H. D. Eberlein, -Esq.

Fig. 2. Miss Mary H. Northend.

Fig. 3. Mr. James Curran.

Fig. 4. Richard A. Canfield, Esq.

Fig. 5. John T. Morris, Esq.

Fig. 6. Richard A. Canfield, Esq.

Fig. 7. Mr. James Curran.

Fig. 8. Mr. James Curran.

Plate XIX.

Fig. 1. James M. Townsend, Esq.
Fig. 2. Miss Mary H. Northend.
Fig. 3. H. D. Eberlein, Esq.
Fig. 4. Richard A. Canfield, Esq.
Fig. 5. H. D. Eberlein, Esq.
Fig. 6. H. D. Eberlein, Esq.
Fig. 7. John T. Morris, Esq.
Fig. 8. Miss Mary H. Northend.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF
PERIOD FURNITURE

CHAPTER I

INTEODUCTOEY

IF there be sermons in stones, there are surely vol-
umes of romances in old furniture. And they are
the best kind of romances, too, because they are all
true and not the laboured efforts of fictionaries, jaded
with trying to find some new thing under the sun. We
have but to open our eyes and unstop our ears to the
language of furniture and a whole new world, richly
filled with stirring memories, at once breaks upon us.
But the value of an understanding of old furniture
lies not merely in sentimental satisfaction and pleasing
retrospect. It will give us a vigorous commentary on
the economic history and social manners of the times in
which it was made, if we care to take the pains to read a
little between the lines. A dog ring, perhaps, on a table
leg, brings vividly before us a picture of domestic
manners when the master of the house was wont to
fasten his hound beside him as he sat in hall. Or, per-
chance, a well- worn table stretcher recalls the time when
the floors were strewn with reeds and rushes and the
men and women seated at the board were glad of a spot
to rest their feet and keep them out of the "marsh,"
as it was significantly called, a place that readily be-
came noisome with dampness, litter and scraps thrown
to the dogs, for slatternly housekeeping was just as

16 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

common in the "good old days" of Queen Bess and tlie
Wisest Fool in Christendom as it has ever been since.

More pleasantly suggestive are the china cupboards
of a later reign when housewives, with proper pride in
their domestic surroundings, addressed themselves to
collecting Delft and such bits of Oriental porcelain as
rich East Indian argosies fetched to the ports of Hol-
land, after the fashion set them by busy Queen Mary,
the estimable spouse of the little Dutch Stadtholder.
Anon a chased silver mirror frame or some gorgeous
gew-gaw of tinsel court-trappings, reminiscent of the
Merry Monarch's amorous irregularities, or again a
capacious "Drunkard's Chair," dating from the age
of "good Queen Anne," tell all too eloquently of the
"frailty of the flesh" and the temptations to which it
has yielded. In wholesomer vein, the rich and multi-
coloured upholstery stuffs from the looms of Spital-
fields, fabrics which brightened the houses of the
wealthy while Charles 11 was yet on the throne, and stiU
more during the reign of William and Mary, speak to
us of the industrious Huguenot weavers and England's
lasting obligation to their cunning craftsmanship.

So it goes. Memories both, grave and gay flash in
quick succession before the mind's eye, summoned to
their place in the mental panorama by the curve of a
chair leg or a faded tatter of ancient brocade. The
glamour of antiquity makes a strong appeal to most
persons of fine sensibilities. Those of a fanciful turn
love to weave romances about old things and the people
they were associated with. With us in America the
desire to connect every old chest, table, bedstead or
the like with some noted personage or some famous
event has, at times, amounted to a mania. New Eng-

INTRODUCTORY 17

land, through its length and breadth, has been filled to
overflowing with "genuine" household gear brought
over in the Mayflower. Indeed, Mayflower furniture
has become a standing joke.

So, too, is it with the tables Washington has eaten
from, the chairs he has sat on and the beds he has slept
upon. If half the tales were true that we are asked to
believe, the Father of his Country must have spent far
more than his allotted span of life merely in perform-
ing the most astounding gastronomic feats or sleeping
his wits away.

How much more sane and satisfactory it is to cast
aside aU this clap-trap sentiment and twaddling decep-
tion, accepting only such traditions as bear the most
unmistakable hall-marks of authenticity, and measure
our esteem for old furniture rather by its intrinsic
merit ! The historic point of view has its own very real
and unquestionable value, the suggestive aspect estab-
lishes the connexion with social and economic condi-
tions that affected the form and decoration of furni-
ture and is, therefore, helpful to our general knowledge,
but the truest and most satisfactory side from which to
view the whole subject is its artistic and decorative
value.

By regarding the making of furniture as an art, our
reverence for it will be well founded and we shall be
convinced of the worthiness and dignity of our study.
We must quite put aside the mere stupidly utilitarian
and narrow attitude that some assume in reference to
furniture and consider the whole subject in a broader
and more intelligent manner. Anything is to be held
well worth while that will conduce to making the inti-
mate surroundings of our daily life more livable and at-

18 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

tractive. It is a laudable desire to have everything
about us dignified and beautiful no matter how humble
its use. The Greeks followed this principle, and the
experience of many centuries has assuredly proved
that they were fit patterns for emulation.

Furniture making is not only one of the oldest
branches of man's handiwork but is one of the noblest
aids to architecture and has been recognised as such
by the greatest architects. To cite one instance in this
connexion, the Brothers Adam set great store by it and
owed much of the success of their interiors to the pains
they bestowed on the smallest details of furnishing*
Every day we see good houses spoiled by bad or ill-
chosen furniture and then again we see, on the other
hand, many a discouraging and mediocre house in large
measure redeemed by good furniture, well chosen and
wisely placed.

Sympathetic students of the various periods of fur-
niture find much of their delight in the subtle grace of
line and proportion in which the old craftsmen ex-
celled. This excellence they had because they put their
best efforts, their very hearts and souls, into their work
and took a proper pride in its achievement before these
present days of rush and hurry and factory-made
things, turned out in batches by soulless corporations.

But excellent reproductions of the old pieces are,
nevertheless, made to-day, retaining the charm of their
prototypes, so that those who are unable to purchase
antique specimens may still furnish their homes in the
best manner and at a moderate cost. Discrimination
is necessary, and very practical helps will be found in
the chapter on "Advice to Buyers and Collectors."

INTRODUCTORY 19

A fair working knowledge of the several period
styles will tenfold increase our interest if we have
begun to heed the call of the antique, and we may
depend upon it that a discriminating acquaintance is
not only a source of satisfaction in itself but is really
an essential part of a truly liberal education and helps
mightily toward a broad, humanising sense of apprecia-
tion which everyone should cultivate. To know fully
the charm and merits of old furniture, to realise the
opportunities and resources it affords us in the appoint-
ment of our houses, it is necessary that we understand
*at least enough about the characteristics of the sundry
periods to distinguish easily one kind from another.

Some thirty years ago were sown the seeds of a taste
for old furniture. The taste grew and spread rapidly.
Everybody supposed to have good taste began to admire
antiques, or at least pretended to. Very few, it is true,
then knew much about the subject, but that made no
difference. Old pieces of all descriptions and periods
were rescued from the neglect that had hitherto been
their portion, or dragged from the oblivion of dusty
attics, where they had lain unheeded for years, and
heaped with undiscriminating admiration, regardless
of real deserving. Later, after the first stages of dis-
covery and acquisition, came a general desire to know
something more about these now treasured heirlooms
and "finds" than merely that they were "very old
pieces."

The object of the following chapters is to give practi-
cal, concrete information in this respect and point out
the goodness of the several styles, supplying such char-
acteristic details as may enable the reader to identify

20 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITUK±i

and distinguish types with certainty as -well as con-
venience. By the aid of the ensuing pages a broad ac-
quaintance with the subject is quickly obtained.

A word should be said about the conventional divi-
sion into "periods." Such a division is necessarily
somewhat arbitrary, but cannot well be avoided, and it
is not to be desired that it should. Various systems
of nomenclature have been contrived to designate the
procession of styles but, of them all, the one here
followed seems the most logical. By calling a period
after the monarch during whose reign a style flour-
ished, or after the designer whose influence most de-
veloped it, we arrive at approximate accuracy of dates
and have, also, the added advantage of a human
and often exceedingly picturesque personality to attach
our associations to, and such associations are undoubt-
edly a help to memory. When a striking personality
or a stirring and dramatic incident can be seized, and
made the pivot around which we arrange a congeries of
facts or observations, the human mind is so constituted
that it retains a far more vivid impression of the whole
and the inter-relation of the separate points than if
there were no picturesque background or setting to in-
vest the details with an element of interest. In speak-
ing of periods, therefore, we mean the well-defined
styles of furniture in vogue at some particular epoch.
All the period styles — Jacobean, Queen Anne, Chippen-
dale and so on — ^have certain peculiar and unmistakable
characteristics, a slight acquaintance with which will
enable an ordinarily observant person to classify prop-
erly any article likely to be met with.

It is the happy office of this Peactical, Book op Peeiod
FuENiTUEB to simplify the subject to a greater extent

INTRODUCTORY 21

than ever before by emphasising the fact that the fully
developed styles of each period are markedly distinct
from those which went before and those which followed
after; so distinct that each is unmistakable and the
differences easily recognised and mastered. The tran-
sition pieces — those that partake of the characteristics
of two adjoining periods — readily fall into place when
the characteristics of each are known. It will be a
great aid and simplification to remember this when we
recall that furniture is subject to the same laws of
gradual change and development that we find in every-
thing else, one type merging almost imperceptibly into
another. In almost every instance there are numerous
cases of overlapping between consecutive periods.

It is by form that we most quickly recognise things,
and even a novice, by giving a little study to the illus-
trated chronological key of this book, will find himself
growing familiar with the shapes of each period so that
soon the whole field will lie out simply before him as a
well-marked map.

Styles that matured in periods of which they were
considered typical, really oftentimes budded forth
feebly towards the close of the preceding epoch. Per-
sistence in the perpetuation of types far beyond the
periods of which they were representative, by dupli-
cating old models, is even more noticeable than cases of
premature arrival. This was naturally to be expected
in country districts where the local joiners, far re-
moved from new patterns and the stimulating influence
of new ideas, just went on copying the objects they had
before them with little or no change. Oaken settles of
Cromwellian pattern were made in the reign of Queen
Anne and even in that of George I. These tendencies

22 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITUKJi.

to overlap in both directions need not at all disturb our
classification, however, as they are merely the excep-
tions that prove the well-established rule.

In dealing with each successive period this book
demonstrates its practical simplicity for purposes of
ready reference and comparison. At the beginning of
each chapter are given dates, reign and such general
observations as may be necessary. Following this is
a condensed enumeration of the different articles of
furniture found in common use at the particular time
of which the chapter treats.

By comparing these sections in one chapter after
another it may be seen when, approximately, our dif-
ferent household articles came into use and under what
forms they first appeared. "We shall learn, for in-
stance, that our modern sideboard has several lines of
ancestry. On one side, it is partly descended from the
dresser of Stuart and Queen Anne days and partly from
the Jacobean cupboard; on the other, its lineage can
be traced from the seventeenth century side or serving
table, which sometimes had drawers and sometimes did
not, through the "sideboard table" of the Chippendale
period, an article wholly without drawers, down to the
creations of Shearer, Hepplewhite and Sheraton in the
latter part of the eighteenth century when drawers,
cupboards and sundry other appliances of convenience
were developed. To the dresser and court-cupboard
side of its parentage, is unquestionably due the appal-
lingly hideous superstructure of woodwork and mirrors
with which the modern sideboard is so often unhappily
crowned, an ill-conceived device that makes it look for
all the world like a detached section of a barroom or
barber shop.

INTRODUCTORY 23

After the list of articles to be dealt with, comes a
section on contour. Too much stress cannot be laid on
the supreme importance of carefully studying the shape
of every object considered. By comparing the contour
of an article of one date with the contour of a similar
article of another date, and so on, we shall be able to
trace the process of evolution through all its stages.
At the same time we shall receive an object lesson of
inestimable service in aiding us to acquire the faculty
of quick and unerring judgment. By close attention
to contour we also learn the invaluable habit of sys-
tematic observation, keeping a keen eye open for little
details that come to have more and more meaning
for us the more we heed them.

For the student and lover of old furniture or for
the collector of antiques there is no asset more useful
than a trained eye, quick to detect. and remember the
slightest variation of line or proportion. Such prac-
tise of critical scrutiny incalculably benefits the sense of
appreciation and furthermore stands one in good stead
in a thousand other ways. It is not too much to say
that anyone who thoroughly knows the contour of fur-
niture in its successive periods, and has conscientiously
followed the steps of its evolution, has learned the most
important part of the whole subject and gained a grasp
and mastery of which no expert need feel ashamed.

To the practised observer of contour, the Flemish
scroll legs of late Carolean chairs, the cup-turned legs
of William and Mary highboys and tables or the bun
feet of their cabinets, the broken swan-neck pediments
and cabriole legs of Queen Anne's reign, the hombe
fronts of Chippendale's French work, the serpentine
fronts or the tapered legs and spade feet of Hepple-

24 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

white's dainty prodxictions, all mean infinitely niore
than they do to one who is not in the habit of observing.
An acquaintance with these details will give the student
or collector of old furniture an assurance and con-
fidence in his own judgment that he may largely rely
upon to guide him in his quest.

Next in order after a brief general review of con-
tour comes a detailed discussion of the individual
articles of furniture and their variant forms, with
special contour analysis, and then follows a subject of
fascinating interest. From oak to satinwood, we can
discern how the material affected the style of furniture
and the manner of its decoration. We can see why
carving went out and marqueterie and veneer came in.
We can understand the forms of Queen Anne or Chip-
pendale chairs when we know the properties of the
woods they were made of. We can perceive the devel-
opment of certain types of chairs and settees, made
possible by the rich upholstery stuffs that came into
fashion late in the seventeenth century, and, further-
more, we learn that those gorgeous and unsurpassed
fabrics came to be made in England because Huguenot
textile weavers, dissatisfied with conditions at home,
settled at Spitalfields about 1670 and received a great
addition in numbers and skill, a few years later, when
their co-religionists were driven out of France by the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

Immediately after materials, decorative processes
are considered. Under this heading, in one chapter or
another, come carving, veneering, inlay, marqueterie,
painting, gilding, lacquer, and several sorts of turning.
The reader's interest is aroused when he discovers that
there were three kinds of carving used in the Jacobean

INTRODUCTORY 25

period and that sometimes all of them were employed
to embellish the same piece of cabinet work. The intro-
duction of veneer and the different kinds that won
favour furnish entertaining material. Inlay and mar-
queterie, as decorative processes, are of course closely
linked together and were largely used in conjunction.
We find that different modes of applying them were in
vogue at different stages in the progress of the art and
that in consequence the character of design was mate-
rially affected. The intimate inter-relation between
process and the character of design is a fascinating
thing to watch, especially when we can note the pro-
gressive stages of development from century to cen-
tury. The extensive use made of painting and gilding
in the adornment of English furniture, from early times
right down to our own day, almost without a break, will
doubtless come as a surprise to some readers. As con-
venient decorative resources, however, our forbears
frequently availed themselves of both and we are now
just beginning to wake up again to the possibilities open
to us in either field.

A view of turning and the sources whence the sev-
eral kinds came will reveal to us more than one phase of
international trade relations, but none of the decorative
processes presents such varied and engaging aspects
as lacquer. Brought in small quantities from the
Orient, even as early as Tudor times, it elicited admira-
tion and became increasingly popular as more and more
arrived from year to year. Somewhat before the
closing years of the seventeenth century it had come
to be imitated with no mean degree of success by Eng-
lish craftsmen and the enthusiasm for lacquered fur-
niture became one of the dominating mobiliary influ-

26 fiRACTICAL BOOK OF PEtllOD JFURNITtJRE

ences of the era. Not only did lacquered furniture
retain its vogue undiminished during a large part of
the eighteenth century, but it, seems also to have
created a widespread taste for Oriental wares and
Oriental designs that cropped out persistently from
time to time under one form or another with periodic
recrudescence. Sir William Chambers came under the
spell of Chinese influence and in turn gave it a great
impetus by his work and his published designs. Chip-
pendale and others threw themselves eagerly and not
without a measure of success into a Chinese expression
in their chair and cabinet making. Sheraton betrayed
signs of the same tendency and now in our own day we
are having a Chinese revival which has much to coBtt^
mend it apart from the perennial glamour of the far
East,

In examining the types of decoration, so closely
allied to the decorative processes, we name those most
usually met with and note their recurrence under
slightly varied forms. There is a peculiar fascination
in following the progress of these types of decorative
enrichment for furniture from the vermilion, chocolate
or vivid green colouring in the Gothic fretwork of a
fourteenth century chest or aumbry down through the
mixed Eenaissance and mediaeval motifs of Jacobean
days, the Chinese vagaries of Thomas Johnson, the
graceful Pompeian designs employed by the Brothers
Adam, the dainty devices used by Hepplewhite and
Sheraton to surround Angelica Kauffmann's panels,
all the way to the robust pineapples, honeysuckles, and
cornucopias of the late Empire fashion.

Passing from types of decoration we come next to
structure and get a glimpse of the methods employed id

INTRODUCTORY 27

each period, from the staunch house-building joinery of
the seventeenth century to the dexterous shaping of
hombe and serpentine fronts, or the neat adjustment of
tambour work in the masterpieces of cabinet making
produced in the eighteenth.

Following structure, comes a section in each chapter
on mounts, an important subject too frequently slighted.
If we would know fully the furniture of each period and
be able to tell whether or not it has its original mounts
or if we would be able to judge of the accuracy of a re-
production, it is necessary for us to know whether a
chest or cupboard ought to have knobs, pear drop or
bail handles, whether the plates should be plain, chased
or perforated and of what sort the scutcheons should be.
The last section is devoted to finish, that is to say, to
the various kinds of varnishes and wood preservatives
that it has been customary to apply in the different
periods.

It must be remembered that for the most part Amer-
ican furniture was the same as English, either by
importation or the following out of the current styles
of the parent country by American workmen. There
were, however, in addition to these styles, certain
changes or developments that are strictly American,
and these are fully treated in two chapters.

This volume will be found to embrace furniture both
of plain and elaborate types, so as to be a competent
guide to either, for an inspection of the antique shops
in any of our large cities will show a wonderful array
of every variety of period furniture, plain and ornate.
Dealers have imported many excellent original pieces
and great numbers of admirable reproductions are
being made, so that anyone wishing to know the ground

28 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

must be equipped to judge of more than American fur-
niture of Colonial and post-Colonial days. The field
of period furniture is indeed broad, but it is reasonable,
however, to conclude that by working from well estab-
lished data, data that we have endeavoured to empha-
sise and codify in the following pages, trustworthy
identifications may be reached with scarcely an
exception.

CHAPTER II

JACOBEAN PEEIOD
1603-1688

Eeigns of James I and Chaeles I; The Common-
wealth ; Reigns op Chaeles II and James II

Jacobean Pebiod (proper) 1603-1649
Cbomwellian Pebiod 1649-1660

Caeolean Peeiod 1660-1688

WERE it not for the following exemption it
might be hard upon the reader that this
book necessarily begins with the Jacobean
period, which is the most complicated of all. Jacobean
furniture, however, is only and pre-eminently adapted
to residences of the Tudor and Stuart type, so that if
the reader's home is of a later style it would be as well
for him to begin with the next chapter — that on William
and Mary furniture — returning later to this section to
inform himself upon its subject. Jacobean furniture
is heavy and cumbersome, and therefore not well suited
to modem apartments or houses other than those of
the styles of architecture mentioned above.

For those whose needs embrace Jacobean furniture
the authors have endeavoured to offset all diflSculties
and make its study as easy as possible by treating it in
the most practical and systematic manner. They would
also cheer the reader by assuring him that the subse-
quent periods are much simpler and less varied in their
characteristics.

Before treating of Jacobean furniture itself it is
necessary to say a few words regarding the terms used.

30 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Wten we speak of the Jacobean or Stuart period, with
reference to furniture, we ordinarily include every-
thing between 1603, when James I ascended the throne

im^

Fio. 1. Jacobean Oak Cupboard, c. 1665, Characteristic Strapwork Frieze. Geomet-
rical Panels Made of Applied Mouldings Inlaid in Centre. Detail of Frieze at Top.

By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne, Philadelphia.

of England, and 1688, when the second James fled be-
fore the victorious approach of William of Orange.

By a narrower but, at the same time, more strictly
accurate application, the term "Jacobean" is re-
stricted to the period from 1603 to 1649. The develop-

JACOBEAN PERIOD 31

ments between 1649 and 1660 are classified as ' ' Crom-
wellian." To everything subsequent to the Kestora-
tion and prior to 1688 the term "Carolean" is applied.

While bearing in mind the more usual and com-
prehensive scope of the designation "Jacobean," the
narrower and more exact usage is perhaps prefer-
able as it enables us to refer readily to certain specific
furniture types without incessantly quoting approxi-
mate dates. Besides, the names "Cromwellian" and
"Carolean" carry with them lively historical associa-
tions that are not a little helpful in recalling the influx
of varied agencies that materially affected the styles
of furniture as well as everything else throughout the
realm. Each of these minor epochs comprised within
the general period from 1603 to 1688 was subject to
its own special set of influences that all took shape in
outward form. It is impossible not to accord due
recognition to these differences and therefore, for the
sake of greater exactitude and clearness, we shall here-
after, as far as may be, differentiate the styles accord-
ing to the subdivisions just noted.

As to the extreme limits of any mobiliary * period
at either end, it would be not only arbitrary but mis-
leading and inaccurate as well to say that such and
such a furniture type began or ended at just such a
date. As a matter of fact a process of evolution,
sometimes slow and sometimes rapid, was always tak-
ing place. Styles so overlapped that the best one can
do is to give dates at which approximately boimdary
posts can be set, dates at which certain features be-
came noticeably prominent.

To show both how unwise and unsafe it is to take

* Pertaining to movable furniture, cf, Fr. meuble, Latin mobilis.

32 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PEKIUD jyuitiMixuivr.

too didactic or categorical an attitude, we may cite
the instance of a cabinet reputed to have been made
for Marie Antoinette and formerly classed by experts
as unquestionably "Louis Seize" upon the evidence of
its style. A few years ago it became necessary to re-
pair it and when taken apart it disclosed the name
of the maker who had died long before Marie Antoi-
nette was bom. Keeping ever before us, then, this
necessary latitude in judgment, for which we are bound
to make allowance, we shall pass on to an enumeration
of the articles of furniture in common use within the
period covered by this chapter.

' It may be said here that, while their variety in num-
ber and form is great, th-eir characteristics are un-
mistakable and different from those of any succeeding
period. The illustrations in the Chronological Key
and throughout the chapter have been selected with
such care that they will at once familiarise the reader
with the work of this period.

ARTICLES

During the Jacobean, Cromwellian and Carolean
portions of the Stuart period, that is to say, between
1603 and 1688, the articles of furniture in common
use were chairs, stools, forms, settles or settees, love-
seats, day-beds, bedsteads, mirrors, tables, footstools,
chests, cupboards of sundry sorts, cabinets, buffets and
dressers or sideboards.

CONTOUR

The contour and style of the furniture of the
Jacobean period, as of every other period for that
matter, more or less faithfully reflected the social, in-

JACOBEAN BEDSTEAD, MORETON, SALOP

By Courtesy of " House & Garden "

PLATE I

JACOBEAN PERIOD 33

tellectual and religious temperament and manners of
the times. One can scarcely imagine Dean Hook
seated in a dainty Sheraton chair, while one of Crom-
well's lieutenants in buff and bandolier occupying an
Adam settee would be as absurd an anachronism as
Julius CsBsar driving abroad in a hansom or a motor
car. The furniture was stout and staunch, even to
clumsiness and severe in form and line even though
bedizened with a superfluity of ornament. It matched
the coarse manners, abrupt morals, and vigorous
theology of the day with all their grotesquerie, terrible
earnestness and redundancy of polemics, brimstone
anathema and persecution. Contour and style were
both thoroughly in accord with the genius of the
people.

In the cabinet work of the later Cromwellian era the
contour of carcases remained much the same except that
cupboards, while still squatty, were apt to be of greater
length and, with the growing strength of Dutch influ-
ence, "bun" or ball feet on chests (Fig. 6) or cupboards
became more common. Chests of drawers or chests
with combinations of drawers and cupboards came
more into fashion.

During the Stuart period there is such a diversity
of contour resulting from the modification of native
English traditions by an increasingly large influx of
Continental influences that it is doubly essential to
grasp the typical forms as exemplified in the Key at
the beginning of the book and the line drawings in the
text.

In the truly Jacobean or early Stuart period we
find a predominance of straight lines, simplicity of
structure and craftsmanship of downright British

34 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

vigour and energy. All the different sorts of cup-
boards and dressers were of no great height and
even the bedsteads with their ponderous testers carved
and panelled, supported on heavy posts, were low —
much lower than one would imagine from looking at
pictures of them. The squat proportions of the furni-
ture were due to and quite consistent with the usually
low-ceiled rooms.

CHAIRS

Development in the form of chairs and the marked
increase in their number during the three divisions of
the Stuart period afford one of the most interesting
and instructive features of that fruitful mobiliary
epoch. Hardly anything so faithfully and fully reflects
the manners and customs of an age and the changes
taking place therein as furniture, and of all articles of
furniture the chair is by far the most sensitive to new
and foreign influences of changing styles — ^much more
so than cabinet work. It reflected not only the flux of
fashion but accurately registered political and social
changes as well.

In the early Jacobean period, chairs were compara-
tively scarce, stools and forms being in more general
use. These early chairs usually had arms and were
seats of great dignity. Both chairs and settles had
high seats and usually heavy stretchers between the
legs. Chair seats were square or almost so and chair-
backs were high and perpendicular or so nearly per-
pendicular that the rake was scarcely perceptible. The
triangular seated and heavily turned chairs, whose pat-
tern had been brought to England, probably by the
Normans, were met with but were survivals in type.

The characteristic chair of this date was the wain-

JACOBEAN PERIOD

scot or panelled back chair (Key I, 1). These chairs
probably owed their inspiration in the first instance to
choir stalls. In Elizabethan chairs of this pattern, the
top rail bearing the cresting is within the uprights of
the back. In Jacobean chairs the top rail caps the up-
rights and is part of the cresting. These wainscot
chairs (Fig. 2, b) continued to be made long after the

(a) (6)

Fig. 2. a, Jacobean Oak "Monks Seat" or Table Chair, o. 1660; b, Jacobean Oak
Panel-back or Wainacot Chair, c. 1630. Carved, turned and inlaid.

By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne, Philadelphia.

Eestoration. Seats were made high with the express
expectation of using either the stretcher or a footstool.
There were also occasionally to be found X-shaped
chairs pretty well covered with upholstery, but these
occurred in the earliest Jacobean days and were so
scarce that we can afford to pass them without further
mention.

36 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Slightly before the Commonwealth we find the York-
shire and Derbyshire type of chair with open backs
(Fig. 3, a). The uprights ended in carved finials and
there were usually two or three carved and hooped
crosspieces and these were often further ornamented
by acorn pendants. Sometimes instead of the hooped

FiQ. 3. a, Jacobean Oak Yorkshire Chair, c. 1650. Height of back, 3 feet 7 inches;
height of Beat, 17 inches; breadth of seat, 18 inches; depth of seat, 16 inches. 5, Late
Jacobean Walnut Chair, c. 1685, formerly belonging to Robert Proud, now in the collec-
tion of Pennsylvania Historical Society. Showing Flemish and Baroque influences in
high caned back, scroll carving and ornate arched stretcher between the two Flemish
scrolled front legs. Height of back, 52 inches; height of seat, 18^ inches; seat in front,
17 inches; seat in back, 14 inches; depth of seat, 15 inches.

crosspieces, there were several horizontal bars, the
spaces between which w6re filled in with arcades of
slender spindles and carved rounded arches.

At the time of the Commonwealth chairs were made
in much greater numbers than previously, as the demo-
cratic principles, then rampant, permitted master and

JACOBEAN PERIOD 37

servant alike to use the same kind of seat, whereas,
formerly, the use of a chair implied certain dignity and
position and the baser sort sat on stools. From this
period date the low-backed chairs with turned legs,
stretchers and uprights, the upper part of the back and
the seat being padded and upholstered (Key I, 2) with
leather or some sad-coloured stout goods. The backs
had more rake than previously.

At the Restoration, and even before that date, when
popular taste was undergoing a revulsion against the
spirit of repression and dulness that had so long been
uppermost, a fondness for carving, though in altered
form, again came to the fore. Open backs appeared
in greater number with either caning or vertical balus-
ters or slats.

Top and bottom rails of many chair-backs showed
a slight concave curve, more calculated to the sitter's
comfort, while not a few arms were either curved longi-
tudinally or bowed laterally. Others, longitudinally
shaped, flared outwards from the posts. The knobbed
turning of legs and stretchers, that had been popular in
the Cromwellian period, retained considerable vogue
for some time after the Eestoration and was employed
concurrently with the new style of carving.

About 1665 spiral turned legs came into much
favour and were used for tables and other articles of
furniture as well as for chairs (Fig. 7). This detail of
style is apparently attributable to Portuguese influence
and probably due to an East Indian source.

Up to the Eestoration all the better chairs had been
made of oak but walnut now became generally avail-
able and lent itself much more readily than oak to deli-

38 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

cate carving and turning. Cane-backed chairs ap-
peared at first without cresting, the uprights ending in
carved finials. The top and bottom rails of the back
were often decorated with a lightly incised pattern of
zigzags or roundels. Afterwards cresting was added,
usually of acanthus and roses, the latter the royal em-
blem, from the prominent use of which in the decora-
tion, this particular type of chair gained the name of
' ' Restoration Chair. ' ' Stretchers and uprights as well
as legs were spirally turned, while Flemish scrolls and
elaborate carving in backs and cresting came more and
more into vogue. The caning at first had large meshes
which, however, decreased in size in succeeding years.

The next step in chair development was the addition
of an elaborately carved, scrolled and usually hooped
stretcher between the front legs (Key II, 9). Very soon
the Flemish scrolled front legs appeared and when these
were set obliquely to the seat the approach to the cab-
riole form at once became evident. In the middle and
latter part of Carolean times chairs and sofas with
seats and high, square backs, upholstered with gay im-
ported fabrics or some of the handsome textures that
were already coming from English looms (Key II, 8)
came into fashion. These also had the Flemish legs
and highly ornate hooped stretchers.

The last type of Stuart chair to which we must pay
special attention is the high and almost perpendicular
cane-backed creation of the end of the Carolean epoch,
reflecting in every line strong Flemish and Dutch in-
fluences (Fig. 3, b, and Key I, 3) . These chairs showed
Flemish legs, scrolled ornament of pronounced Baroque
character and caned or baluster backs.

JACOBEAN PERIOD 39

STOOLS AND FORMS

Stools were used in great numbers, especially before
the democratic spirit of Commonwealtb days com-
pletely broke down the rigid etiquette that had pre-
viously obtained governing the use of chairs and led
to their common use by all grades of society. The stool
fulfilled the most varied uses as occasion demanded —
it might be a seat for the end of the long, narrow tables,
or a formidable missile in the hands of an irate Jennie
Geddes.

Joint or " joyned" stools, particularly in the early
part of the Stuart period, made up for the scarcity of
chairs. They were commonly set at the ends of the
long refectory tables, while at the sides were forms or
backless benches which were only elongated stools.
They were about the height of the chair seat of the
period and were strongly made with turned and
sometimes carved legs and stout stretchers. The un-
derframing was also occasionally adorned with carving.
The legs were often, though not always, given an out-
ward spread.

As it became less and less the custom to rest the feet
on the bottom rails or stretchers of tables or hang the
heels on the rounds of chairs to escape draughts or dirt
on the floor, we find footstools coming into more com-
mon use, especially with the larger and more stately
chairs whose seats were high from the floor.

In Carolean times footstools and bedsteps, made of
oak or walnut, with caned tops became common. The
legs were turned and sometimes scrolled or carved
stretchers, like those between the forelegs of chairs,
were added. Instead of legs some of the stools rested

AO PRACTICAL BOuJV UJ^ rJi^EiOD j urnNxxuxvjii

on bench ends. Stools often answered the purpose of
small tables.

Forms or backless benches differed from the
staunchly built and heavy stools only in respect of their
great length, being made primarily to accommodate
those sitting at the sides of the long tables. When not
in use the forms were often stowed away on the rails or
stretchers underneath the tables.

SETTLES, SETTEES AND LOVE SEATS

Settles (Fig, 4) or benches with arms and backs,
often panelled and ornately carved, were in very gen-
eral use all during the Stuart period. It was not at all
uncommon for the part between the seat and the floor
to be solidly enclosed by panelling while the seat itself
was hinged, thus making the one article of furniture
do duty as a seat and a chest or coffer at the same time.

Oaken settles were found so useful and satisfactory
that the type persisted in both England and America
until well into the eighteenth century and many ex-
amples are of even later date. The specimen shown in
Fig. 4 is of American make and was evidently always
intended to have a cushion, as may be inferred from the
cording. Settles without cushioned seats were rather
the rule, however. The backs and, where the under-
part was enclosed for a chest, the front below the seat,
might or might not be ornately carved on rails, stiles
and panels, according to the taste or the political and
religious principles of the maker. The seats were of
about the same height as chair seats and the backs, as
a rule, were slightly higher than chair backs, though
occasionally they were carried upward to an ungainly
extent.

JACOBEAN PERIOD

SETTEES

The settee or sofa seems to have developed from the
love-seat (see following paragraph) and was frequently-
found in the houses of the well-to-do from Carolean
times onward. They were first made with upholstered
backs, seats and arms, and were much like short sofas.

Fig. 4. Jacobean Oak Settee; American, c. 1660. Cromwellian Type. Length, 6
feet 1 inch; height of back, 2 feet 10 inches; height of seat. 1 foot 4 inches; breadth of
seat, 17 inches. ' ,

By Courtesy of Col. William J. Youngs, Garden City, L. I.

Legs and stretchers were like the legs and stretchers of
chairs and the tops were straight, as may be seen by the
example shown in Key II, 8. The wood was usually
walnut, as they were not common until walnut had su-
perseded oak as the fashionable wood.

Love-seats were but chairs of sufficient breadth of
seat to accommodate two occupants side by side and
were given the name ' ' courting chairs " or " love-seats ' '
in a spirit of jocularity. They may be regarded as the
progenitors of the double chair-backed settee or *'sofa"
of a later period.

42 PRACTICAL BOuxv ^r rrjixLKju snj jxim ± x \j xi,xj

DAY-BEDS

Day-beds (Key II, 9) were the seventeenth century
forerunners of our reclining couches. They were of
sufficient length and breadth to permit the occupant to
recline at length. The head-piece was frequently ad-
justable to any desired angle by means of chains or
straps and pins.

Day-beds of early Jacobean date fared ill at the
hands of Cromwell's soldiers and not many have re-
mained to us. At the Restoration they again became a
stock article of furniture. They were both caned and
made for cushions. They were about the height of
chairs and the legs were either turned, in the humbler
types, or highly carved in those of more ornate pattern.

BEDSTEADS

Like their Elizabethan predecessors, the Jacobean
or Stuart bedsteads were objects of fearsome and
portentous appearance. Their possessors set great
store by them and lavished what seems to us an alto-
gether disproportionate amount of expense and pains
in rendering them sufficiently magnifical to suit their
notions of state. An examination of the comparatively
small number that have come down to us — apparently
only the more costly ones have survived — shows them
unsanitary as well as cumbrously ornate (Plate I,
page 32). The posts supporting the tester often
stood clear of the actual bed. Both the underside of
the canopy or tester and the bedhead were frequently
panelled and elaborately carved as well as the posts
and tester cornice. In Jacobean and Cromwellian bed-

JACOBEAN PERIOD

steads there was a modification in turning and detail
of ornamentation as noted in a subsequent section.

For children and servants there were truckle or
trundle beds that could readily be pushed out of the
way. They were low affairs, scarcely raised from the
floor. With the access of all manner of pomp and splen-
dour at the Eestoration, amplitude of curtains and
heavily upholstered and draped testers with abundance
of embroidery found favour among the wealthy.

TABI.ES

During the Stuart period tables steadily became
articles of more serious import than in preceding
epochs. The change from movable boards set upon

Fin. 5. Jacobean Oak Refectory Table, c. 1635. Length, 89 inches; width, 33
inches; height, 30 inches. Heavily carved bulbous legs and low stretchers characteristic
of the early period.

By Courtesy of Isaac W. Roberta, Esq., Pencoyd, Bala, Pa.

trestles to tables of permanent structure had occurred
during Tudor times but it is not till the days of the
Stuarts that we find them in any considerable num-
ber. Then we meet with the long tables (Fig. 5 and Key
I, 6) that follow the traditional lines of the trestle
boards, ingeniously devised "drawing tables," gate
tables with drop leaves, small rectangular tables,
three-cornered cricket tables and many others.

44 PRACTICAL BOOK UJb' Jr'JBiKHJU jj ujxinij.uxu3j

The early Jacobean long or "refectory" tables were
frequently of great length — some are known of even
thirty feet or more — ^but narrow in comparison. Their
structure is described in the section on "Structure."
' ' Drawing-tables ' ' were ingeniously contrived to double
their length and seating capacity. This was accom-
plished "by means of two shelves, sliding under the cen-
tral top, but so arranged that upon their being drawn
out, the upper top falls into their place, thus forming a
level surface."

The gate table (Key II, 7), which originated in this
period, was found so practical and useful that, with
slight variations according to the characteristics of
the age, it has persisted to present days, and so, in
some one of its forms, may be said to belong to each
period.

About the time of the Eestoratidn, owing largely to
the prevalent habit of tea and coffee drinking, various
shaped small tables began to be made in great numbers.
They were also used for games. Drawers in tables
became common at this date also. All the Stuart tables
were substantially braced by stout stretchers near the
floor. Bulbous legs (Key I, 6 and Fig. 12, 6) went out
of fashion by the middle of the seventeenth century.
Einged baluster and columnar legs appeared about the
time of the Eestoration (Fig. 12, a and c) in tables as
they did also in chairs.

CHESTS

From the very dawn of history, chests (Fig. 6) of
one sort or another have been factors of tremendous
importance in domestic economy. Both for storage

JACOBEAN PERIOD

purposes and as seats they have played a conspicuous
part in household equipment. They were made of
various materials and wrought in every degree of
workmanship from the rude box of an unskilled joiner
to the masterpieces of a cunning carver or inlayer.

Several differences of structure must be noted in
the divers kinds of chests. The original and commonest
type of chest had a lid which opened upward. Coffers

Detail of moulding.

Fig. 6. Jacobean Oak Chest, c. 1680, in Collection of Pennsylvania Historical Soci-
ety. Flemish and Dutch Influence in Panels of Applied Moulding and "Bun ' Feet.
Height, 35 inches; length, 53X inches; breadth, 23>^ inches.

were chests of such pattern strongly made for the safe
keeping of valuables. Caskets were small chests, like-
wise of this type, for the keeping of trinkets. Hutches'
were chests with stationary tops and had doors opening
in front instead of lids. All these varieties were found
at the beginning of the Stuart period. About the
middle of the seventeenth century appeared chests with
one or more drawers in the lower part, the top having
a hinged lid as formerly. Later in the century more
drawers were added, until by the eighteenth we have
not chests with drawers but chests of drawers, the fore-

46 PRACTICAL B00j3l On irrjixi.yjD i uxi-mixuxviii

runners of the modern bureau.^ In Carolean times we
find high chests with drawers in the lower part, while
the upper opens with hutch-like cupboard doors.

On nearly all the different sorts of chests of this
period carving, geometrical panelling or inlay — accord-
ing to the particular vogue of the day — ^were lavishly
used for embellishment.

CUPBOARDS

The cupboard was a very favourite piece of furni-
ture during the Stuart period and much care and ex-
pense were lavished upon its decoration that it might
worthily, express the state and rank of its possessor.
It occurs under divers shapes as a court cupboard
(Key I, 4), a livery cupboard, a hanging cupboard— the
progenitor of the wardrobe — an almery and several
more.

Hanging, Ctjpboakds were about five feet or even less
in height, with openings in the doors to ventilate the
clothing hanging within.

LiVEKY CtrpBOAEDS Were small affairs that were hung
on walls or set on tables or other conveniently elevated
places, the doors frequently pierced with balustered or
spindle openings, and were meant to hold food, wine
and candles.

^The word bureau is of course connected with writing, and in
Great Britain a bureau is a writing-deslc. In America it has come to
have an entirely different signification, and it would seem to be for the
following reason. Chests of drawers were frequently made with a drop
lid and pigeon-holes taking the place of the upper drawers and they
were then called bureaux: when these writing facilities were dropped
and the chests were composed entirely of drawers and used for toilet
purposes solely the name bureau still persisted, and as its use is so
universal it seems impossible to avoid employing it.

JACOBEAN PERIOD

Bread and Cheese Cupboards were bulky pieces of
furniture sometimes divided into upper and lower com-
partments and were meant for the storage of the house-
hold larder.

Almekies were receptacles similar to livery cup-
boards, and were intended to put
doles into for pensioners or
family retainers.

Court Cupboards, literally
short cupboards (Key I, 4), were
originally small cupboards set
on sidetables. Afterwards the
two were combined into one
piece and the lower part, origin-
ally but a table, was fitted some-
times with shelves, sometimes
with doors, making a lower cup-
board. The upper part was be-
decked with pillars supporting an
ornate corniced top. The other va-
rieties of cupboards consisted of
straightforward rectangular car-
case work without any pretense
at architectural character.

Cabinets on high stands with
carved or spiral turned legs were
characteristic of late Carolean
times (Key I, 5).

FiQ. 7. Jacobean Small Oak
Cupboard, c. 1670. Total
height, 5 feet 8 inches.

By Courtesy of Mr. R. W.
Lehne, Philadelphia.

BUFFETS, DRESSERS AND SIDEBOARDS

The buffet, the dresser (Fig. 9), the sideboard (Fig.
8), and all the other prototypes of that useful and now
universal article of dining-room furniture were evolved

48 PRACTICAL BOuii oi) r^iitiux/ j:vjxx\ixij±\,±u

from modifications of the table or cupboard, or both,
and flourished mightily in numbers and in sundry
guises all during the Stuart period.

But little removed from the court cupboard in type
was the buffet meant for the display of plate and also
for convenience in serving. It was a heavy table placed
against the wall with a superstructure on pillars, but
without any cupboard. Akin to the buffet was the
dresser (Fig. 9), with a cupboard in the lower part and

Fig. 8. Jacobean Oak Sideboard, c. 1665. Showing Flemish influence in geo-
metrically panelled drawer fronts and applied ornament; also spirally turned legs.
Length, 6 feet 6 inches; height, 34 inches.

By Courtesy of Mr. K. W. Lehne, Philadelphia.

a back with open shelves. This type was probably of
Welsh or Yorkshire origin, known in Wales as a
"cwpwedd tridam," and persisted well into the eigh-
teenth century. Another type was the heavy low table
with deep drawers (Fig. 8), very like the sideboard that
came into fashion late in the eighteenth century.

MIEROES

In the early Jacobean days, though men and women
were not a whit less vain of their personal appearance
than are their descendants, mirrors were not common.

JACOBEAN PERIOD

They were small, for large pieces of glass were not
made, and were set in heavy frames. It was not till
towards the latter part of the seventeenth century,
when English-made glass was obtainable, that mirrors

FiQ. 9. Jacobean Oak Dresser of Yorkshire Pattern, c. 1660, Containing Many
Characteristic Details of Ornamentation q. v. in Text. Length, S feet; height, 6 feet

8 inches.

By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne, Philadelphia.

increased much in number or attained any considerable
size.

In the Carolean period intricate pieces of bevelling
were executed and also extremely elaborate frames
were carved in pear, lime or pine (Plate II, p. 50) by
Grinlinff Gibbon or men of his school.

50 PRACTICAL BGwK vjr rr^JXLyjxj r\jn.ni.i.vs\-rj

CLOCKS

About the middle of the seventeentli century the tall
clock case made its appearance and later became a sub-
ject for elaborate ornamentation. The tall case was
first made for the purpose of concealing the weights
and pendulum which had formerly hung in full view
from a mechanism and dial supported by a bracket.

MATERIALS

There was the greatest diversity of materials used
in the manufacture of furniture throughout the en-
tire Stuart or Jacobean period.

Oak, the national wood of England, was of course
the favourite and staple material from which Jacobean
and Cromwellian furniture was chiefly made and con-
tinued popular in Carolean times when powerful
agencies were at work to supplant it. It has indeed
retained a more or less constant measure of favour
down to the present day when its vogue is again in
the ascendant. In the later part of the Stuart period
it was often used as a groundwork in combination
with other woods. It was plentiful and strong and
satisfied the proverbial British desire for weight,
staunchness and durability.

Walnut, used only sparingly as a precious wood
in Elizabethan and early Jacobean times, came into
common use for furniture about 1650 and from thence
onward was increasingly popular. Great numbers of
walnut trees had been planted about 1560 and by the
middle of the seventeenth century the timber had
reached maturity. It was a more suitable medium for
the scrolls, twists and curves then coming into fashion
and less likely to chip than oak.

GRIXLING GIBBON MIRROR FRAME

By Courtesy of Richard A. C'anfield, Esq., New York City

PLATE II

JACOBEAN PERIOD 51

Cedab came into use about 1660. The most beau-
tiful cedar furniture and the most frequently met
with is of Bermudian origin. The Bermuda cedar is
of peculiarly rich and dark colour.

Cherry "was used though not to any considerable
extent till late Carolean times.

Elm and Beech were used for much of the
simpler furniture, but the wood not being of par-
ticularly durable quality little of either has survived.

Chestnut was occasionally employed and was con-
sidered valuable.

Deal. The term "deal" properly belongs to the
wood of the fir or pine, but is often used to designate
the form in which lumber is cut. Eed deal is the
wood of the Scotch pine and is highly esteemed and
durable.

Pine, Pear and Limb were used for carving where
griding or paint were to be applied.

Mahogany was used for inlay, in one instance be-
fore the Eestoration, but only sparingly until late in
the century. This of course applies to England. In
Holland and Spain it came into use much earlier and
some of the early Dutch mahogany furniture found its
way to America. One well authenticated piece arrived
m New York considerably before 1640.

Holly and Bog Oak were extensively used for in-
laying.

Precious Woods prom the Indies and America,
which, with the expansion of foreign trade from the
time of the Commonwealth, were imported more and
more constantly, were also used for inlaying.

Silver and Ebony, though rarely employed, were

52 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

used sometimes for furniture among the very wealtliy.
They are included in the list only for the sake of com-
pleteness.

Upholstery for the seats and hacks of chairs,
settees and day-beds was either permanently attached
or in the form of movable cushions.

Leather and "Woven Goods were both used.

With respect to the American Colonies it should be
added that the abundance of ash, elm, maple, cedar and
pine as well as oak and walnut supplied plentiful fur-
niture materials.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

Jacobean furniture, of the Jacobean period
properly so called, was replete with ornament. It was
frequently weighted to excess with a riotous pro-
fusion of decoration that echoed the exuberance of the
popular fancy and sprang from an involved wealth
and ingenuity of invention or, perhaps, one might
more truly say ingenuity of adaptation. Of tasteful
moderation and becoming sense of restraint there was
little, if any, till the severity of Cromwellian days ban-
ished the "sinfully frivolous" intricacies of orna-
ment in which cabinet makers of former regimes had
freely indulged. In considering early Jacobean fur-
niture we must always remember that the background
for all this varied richness of decoration, the parent
stock from which it all grew by logical process of
evolution, was the furniture of Queen Elizabeth's day,
and, furthermore, that that same Elizabethan furni-
ture in turn had only just broken away from ecclesi-
astical tradition which had till then dominated all
mobiliary forms.

JACOBEAN PERIOD

The guiding inspiration was the spirit of the
Eenaissance, filtered through various media and suffi-
ciently modified by English conceptions to make its
expression a thing of living interest and indicative of
the national temperament in that Golden Age when

Fio. 10. Jacobean Oak Chest with Drawers, c. 1670. Height, 3 feet 8 inches; length,

3 feet; depth, 19 inches.

By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne, Philadelphia.

family life began in good earnest to assume both the
guise and reality of comfort and when little amenities
and elegancies were somewhat heeded, when chimneys
and glazed windows became common and domestic
cleanliness, however short of modern demands for
sanitation, was more than a mere name. The average
reader is not likely to have frequent occasion to iden-

54 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

tify Elizabethan furniture, however, and it is not
necessary therefore to dwell further upon it.

Notwithstanding the break from ecclesiastical
tradition in Queen Elizabeth's time and the farther
departure from its domination in the reign of James
I, traces of it, nevertheless, are discernible in early
Jacobean furniture, showing more clearly in severity
of form or contour than in other respects. As to the
sundry types of decoration bestowed on furniture, it
is safe to say that until the Cromwellian era they
may almost without exception be attributed to "the
Eenaissance and its evolution from the Gothic"
through a channel of British craftsmanship.

In the early days of the Commonwealth overmuch
embellishment was taboo, uncompromising plainness
was esteemed and also certain Dutch tendencies be-
came noticeable. Indeed, under Charles I and even
under James, Continental influence had cropped out
from time to time and affected both the contour and
ornamentation of furniture.

From 1660 onward all the Eestoration influences,
Dutch, Flemish, French, Spanish, Portuguese and
Italian, modified somewhat, it is true, by native British
tastes but nevertheless essentially foreign, came into
plg,y and wrought a vast change in the fashion and
form of English furniture. At this time, of course, the
furniture of the American Colonies, except New York
where the Dutch influence was unadulterated, faith-
fully and exactly reflected many of the styles in the
Mother Country.

During the early Jacobean portion of the Stuart
period, even more perhaps than in preceding times,
ornamental design was largely dependent on archi-

JACOBEAN PERIOD 65

tectural inspiration. In fact the architectural char-
acter of much of the furniture reminds us that it may,
in a sense, be called the offspring of architecture and
that its manufacture and decoration is one of the most
closely allied arts.

The processes of decoration ordinarily employed
within the Jacobean, Cromwellian and Carolean periods
were carving, inlay or marqueterie, turning, painting,
gilding, lacquering, upholstering, panelling, applied
ornament and veneering — surely an ample list of re-
sources.

Carving was the traditional, favourite and hence
most common method of decorative expression in the
furniture of the Jacobean portion of the Stuart period,
that is to say from 1603 to 1649. During Cromwellian
days it enjoyed less ample vogue, thanks to Puritan
austerity. At the Eestoration, Carolean influences re-
newed the popularity of carved ornamentation but in
a quite different form, however, that reached its height
in the Baroque extravagances of the final years of the
period. In Eestoration or Stuart work we find a free
flowing treatment of roses and acanthus, and some-
times human figures, along with the conventional
Baroque scrolls. Sundry methods of carving were prac-
tised in early Jacobean times and were capable of
yielding considerable variety of effect in the hands of
a skilful craftsman. The most usual were (1) the
"Modelled" type of carving where the design stands
out in well moulded relief, the surrounding background
being lowered by gouge and chisel. (Fig. 13, and
Key I, 4.) Such carving is usually sunk well into
panels so that the part in highest relief does not pro-
ject above the surfaces of the object. (2) "Flat"

66 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

carving was also popiilar. In this sort flat surfaces
predominated and were thrown into relief by the
groundwork being "sunk" or sharply gouged out
(Fig. 11), (3) "Scratch carving" was easy of execu-
tion and inexpensive and hence widely practised. It
was just the reverse of ordinary carving in that the
design, usually of simple foliage, was vigorously and
sharply incised (Fig. 14, 6).

Fig. 11. Jacobean Oak Cheat, c. 1640,in Collection of Pennsylvania Historical Soci-
ety. Length, 52 inches; height, 22 inches; width, 23 inches. Shows gouged ornament
in bottom rail and stiles and incised carving elsewhere.

All these methods were sometimes used in orna-
menting the same piece of furniture.

Inlay ob Marqubtebie. These two terms have
properly the same significance. In practical use, how-
ever, marqueterie is usually understood to connote
greater elaboration of design and deftness of crafts-
manship while the term inlay is applied, generally, to
simpler operations. A further difference of usage
seems to be that "inlay" is used to denote other ma-
terials as well as wood, while "marqueterie" is used

JACOBEAN PERIOD 57

to designate wood only. In the furniture of the Stuart
period every variety of inlay or marqueterie was ex-
tensively employed. In the more expensive furniture,
especially in the Carolean part of the period, large por-
tions of the surface of various objects were completely
covered with, intricate and flowing patterns of foliage
(Fig. 13, 3), fruit, flowers, birds and beasts. In the
earlier work, though some elaborate pieces are met
with, we generally find stiff little panels and isolated
sections adorned with bits of simple floral inlay, often in
bog oak and holly without any of the artificially stained
woods afterwards used to obtain richness an.d variety
of colour.

Lacquee. Although specimens of lacquer from the
Orient were known in England in Tudor times and
pieces were imported with growing frequency during
the early and middle seventeenth century, the art
of lacquering or Japanning does not seem to have been
extensively practised by English craftsmen in imita-
tion of the Oriental process till nearly the end of the
century's third quarter. Its popularity grew so
rapidly that in 1688 was published a treatise on Japan-
ning evidently written for the nse of amateurs among
whom it became an immensely fashionable hobby and
continued so for a considerable period.

Veneer. Some early examples of veneer, or a pro-
cess approaching veneering, have been found but the
practise did not obtain conspicuously till the middle
or end of the Carolean epoch when the whorled or
"oystered" veneer made from the transverse slices of
small boughs came into vogue. There was an earlier
veneer of walnut on oak while the former wood was
still regarded as semi-precious.

58 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Applied Oenament and Panelling. From the end
of the Cromwellian epoch onward, when Dutch and
Flemish influences were gaining more and more
power, it was a common fashion to apply ornament
to cabinet work in the form of panels (Fig. 14; 4, 9, 10
and 11, also Fig. 6) of various geometrical shapes made
from mouldings mitred and glued on to the ground-
work, pendants, bosses and the like (Fig. 1, frieze and
stiles; Fig. 8, stiles).

Painting. From mediaeval times in England, as on
the Continent, paint had been used for the embellish-
ment of furniture. Throughout the Stuart period
paint was employed to some extent for decorative pur-
poses. Armorial bearings were blazoned in their
proper tinctures on the panels of bed heads or chests.
Other subjects of freer design were occasionally de-
picted in similar places. Sometimes arabesques in
two or three colours were painted on a solid ground of
another hue. Cornices, also, were occasionally picked
out in two or three colours. Frames of chairs and
other pieces of, furniture, too, made of cheaper wood
were not infrequently painted black or some dark hue
and enriched by gilding. In the Carolean epoch a
wider use was made of paint than formerly.

Gilding, though not employed as extensively as in
France, was nevertheless one of the stock resources
of embellishment for the furniture of the wealthy dur-
ing the reign of the Merry Monarch.

IJpHOLSTEKY. In early Jacobean times upholstered
chairs, settees or stools in small numbers were to be
found in some of the great houses of the nobility but
it was not till Cromwellian days, when chairs were
made in greater numbers, that padded seats and

JACOBEAN PERIOD

backs (Key I, 2), covered with leather, were of com-
mon occurrence. After the Restoration many of these
chair seats and backs were brightened up with a cover-
ing of Turkey work. From Carolean times onward
upholstery was fashionable. Chairs, settees and stools
were covered with elaborate needlework wrought by
the ladies (Key II, 8), or with the gorgeous vel-
vets and brocades of Continental or English manu-
facture. In the latter part
of Charles II 's reign wonder-
ful fabrics were made in
England by foreign refugee
textile workers, as many
remnants of their handiwork
fuUy attest.

TxJENiNG (Fig. 7; Fig. 13;
12, 14, 15 and 16 ; Key I, 2 and
5, and II, 7) was a favourite
and inexpensive decorative
process from early times and
was wrought in every variety. _, ,„ ^ . , , ,

„ . , ° . , , ■' , , Fig. 12. TypicalJacobean legs; ^,

bpiral turning, although early pearbaluster; B, melonbulb; C, ringed

instances are known, did not

become general till after the Eestoration. The sundry

types of turning are often valuable aids in determining

dates.

TYPES OP DECORATIVE DESIGN

Great importance attaches to the types of decora-
tive design as well as to the sundry sorts of decora-
tive processes employed. It is by carefully heeding
just such small deta,ils that we shall learn most about
furniture and become able to establish relationships

60 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

and approximate dates. In carving whether "mod-
elled," "flat" or "scratch" the most favourite and
frequently recurring types of design were as follows :

GuiLLOCHB, which (Fig. 13 ; 3 and 7 ; Fig. 14, 7) is an
ornamental pattern of enrichment in the form of two
or more interlacing hands or ribbons so braided or
intertwined as to repeat the same figure in a continued
series of circles. The circles, furthermore, frequently
enclose rosettes, paterae, or other decorative details :

DiAPEEwoEK, which is a decorative pattern (see
glossary), especially of a geometrical character con-
sisting of interlaced circles, etc., in a simple figure
often repeated. It is generally used in friezes or as a
decoration for flat surfaces :

Steapwoek, an ornament of an architectural origin
(Fig. 13; 8 and Fig. 1, frieze) consisting of narrow
fillets or bands folded and crossed or interlaced in
sundry patterns and repeats :

Cabochon and Caetouchb. Similar in a measure
to strapwork is cabochon and cartouche work (Fig. 14;
3) in which there is an alternating succession of
cartouches and decorated or bossed roundels :

Lunettes or half -circle patte'rns (Fig. 14; 6 and
Fig. 11) more or less elaborate and floriated and often
repeated in a long line were much favoured :

Tulip. The tulip either (Fig. 14; 12 and 5) natural
or conventionalised was a frequent motif of Jacobean
ornament :

Heaet. a conventionalised heart-shaped device
(Fig. 10) lent itself to agreeable treatment in repeats as
a frieze and is often met with 'in pieces of the forepart
of the seventeenth century :

EosE. Quite apart from political considerations

JACOBEAN PERIOD

—

ixr

iVo^

iA^

W«

— ^ r^ ^

:^^^

) |-

^ r^^''^ rK^''^

^^^

flifliflTfl

Fig. 13. Characteristic Forms of Jacobean Ornamentation. 1. Quartered Tulip.
2. Rose and Conventional S. Scrolls. 3. Ordinary Patterns of Jacobean (early) Inlay
and Marqueterie. 4. Conventional Foliage Border. 5. Falmated Strapwork. 6.
Channelling. 7. Carved Guilloche Panel and Gouged Pilasters, 8. Strapwork. 9.
Nulled Cornice. 10. Egg and Dart Moulding. 11. Channelling. 12. "Cup and
Cover " Bulbous Table Leg; Gadroon Cover, Fluted Cup. 13. Reeding (raised from
surface). 14. Spiral Turning. 15 and 16. Specimens of Jacobean Pillar Turning.

62 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

which made it a popular decorative detail in Tudor
times, the rose (Fig. 11 and Fig. 13, 2 and 7) proved
itself so valuable as a species of ornament that it al-
ways remained in high favour and is repeatedly found
under varying modified but always recognisable forms :

Acanthus. The popularity of the acanthus leaf
(Fig. 5, legs) as a decorative pattern is due not only
to its inherent grace and beauty but also to its flexibility
and the ease with which its expression may be adapted
to the needs of the carver or decorator. Owing to this
circumstance we find it in endless variety of forms :

Foliated and Flobiated Scrolls were especially
affected (Fig. 13; 2 and 4, and Fig. 14; 1) in the adorn-
ment of crestings for chair backs and for filling in nar-
row panels :

Channelling, a system of parallel, vertical or hori-
zontal grooves or channels cut or gouged into the sur-
face (Fig. 13 ; 6 and 11) of a frieze or other woodwork:

Eeeding, a series of parallel lines of small convex or
beaded moulding (Fig. 13 ; 13) or wood carved in re-
lief. Being raised from the surface, it is the exact
reverse of fluting which is sunk:

Fluting. Vide supra (Fig. 13; 12; lower part of
bulbous turning) :

Geapevines for both fruit and foliage (Fig. 14; 1)
were a much used device for the enrichment of narrow
panels and also for rails and posts or stiles :

Gadeoons. The word gadroon or godroon comes
from the French godron, a plait or ruffle. It is a ruffle
(Fig. 13 ; 12 (upper part), and Glossary) or fluted orna-
ment occurring in a considerable diversity of forms and
in surfaces both straight and circular in contour. Often

JACOBEAN PERIOD 63

used in edges of table tops and is found in both concave
and convex forms :

Nulling, made up chiefly of beading, cabling and
hollows, is often used to ornament the bulbous legs of
Jacobean furniture as well as in other places (Fig. 13;
9 and Fig. 9 ; apron below cornice) :

Human Figures, masques, fruit and grotesque ani-
mals, though used in redundant and heterogeneous
profusion in Elizabethan work, became less prevalent
in Jacobean furniture carving and the human figure in
contemporary costume ceased to be used as a decorative
device after the time of Charles I :

Lozenge. The lozenge pattern began to appear
conspicuously about 1625 and continued in favour dur-
ing Cromwellian and even later times. In heraldry and
in symbolic decoration the lozenge has always been
regarded as appertaining especially to women (Fig. 9) :

Laueelling. The laurel leaf was a common motif
for carving on rails, friezes and posts in cabinet work
(Fig. 14; 7; corner post).

Besides the preceding types, especially named as
being of usual occurrence in the carving of the period,
there were others frequently met with, such as the
palmated chain pattern (Fig. 13; 5), the pomegranate,
the sunflower, in "Welsh carving the dragon and in both
English and "Welsh work sundry other devices too
numerous to be rehearsed, but all partaking of the same
general character and treatment as those aforemen-
tioned, so that sufficient has been said for purposes of
identification.

In dealing with applied ornament the favourite
forms to be noticed are :

Pendants, which usually went in pairs (Figs. 8, 9

Fig. 14. Additional Characteristic Forms of Jacobean Decoration. 1. Moulded
Grapevine Carving. 2. Floral Ornament. 3. Cabochon and Cartouche Ornament.
4. Panelling of Applied Moulding. 5. Incised Conventional Tulip. 6. Double Inter-
lacing Lunette Pattern. 7. Guilloche Ornament in Frieze; levelling on corner stile.
8. Common Zig-zag Inlay Border Pattern. 9, 10, and 11. Typical Applied Panel
Forms. 12. Ordinary Forms of Tulip.

JACOBEAN PERIOD

and 10; posts and uprights) and were generally used
to embellish posts or stiles in cabinet work:

Split Baluster, quite similar in character, except
that the large pear-shaped part is bottom-most :

Maces ob Cannon, used for the same purpose as the
above:

Notching, a form (Fig. 15 and Glossary) that came
in towards the close of the Stuart regime :

Oval Bosses, Lozenges and Peaes, which were most
frequently employed to adorn the friezes of cabinets
(Figs. 1 and 15, and Glossary) and cupboards and usu-

A B

FiQ. 15. A, Notching: B, Pear Drop.

ally in combination with strapwork. This form of deco-
ration was known as "jewelling." The diamond or
lozenge not much used till Cromwellian period. Other
applied forms also were known and the writers have
seen one little chest covered with an aggregation of
applied curlicues that looked like bacilli under a
microscope :

Geombteicax. Designs. In panelled decoration,
which, like the applied ornament, was mainly attached
by the aid of the glue pot, the forms were wholly of
geometrical design, and contorted into innumerable
shapes (Fig. 14; 4, 9, 10 and 11, and Figs. 6 and 1) so

66 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

that the cabinet makers of the period would seem to
have sat up nights devising what new and unheard-of
effects they might achieve. If not always beautiful,
their results were at least ingenious. Inside these
panels, formed by mitred and glued-on moulding, were
often found other raised and bevelled panels of divers
shapes :

Balustees in turned work were usually of an ap-
proximately pear shape (Fig. 12, A) :

Spindles turned were slightly knobbed or nuUed :

Steetchees turned were nulled or heavily knobbed :

Balls oe Bulbs turned mid-high the legs of tables in
the "melon bulb" style (Key I, 6, and Fig. 12, B) :

Spieax, turning (Key I, 5, and Fig. 7) became com-
mon after 1665.

In inlay or marqueterie the greatest diversity of
patterns prevailed, governed mainly by the conceits of
the individual craftsman, who indulged ad libitum in
all manner of chequerings, birds, beasts, fruits, flowers
and leaves (Fig. 14; 8, and Fig. 13; 3), some approxi-
mately natural, others purely conventional, besides
cross-banding, feather-edging and herring-boning, ex-
amples of which are met with in many forms.

In late Stuart days a type of marqueterie ornament
was coming into favour which flourished still more in
the reign of WiUiam and Mary. Oblong inlaid panels
(Key I, 5) often with arc-shaped ends, were filled with
natural flower sprays or sometimes acanthus. The
' ' spiky" Dutch acanthus treatment somewhat displaced
the earlier flowing English treatment.

In upholstery the designs were in brilliant parti-
coloured cross-stitch embroidery (Key II, 8) with

JACOBEAN PERIOD 67

tapestry-like subjects or else brilliant brocades and
out-pile velvets displayed flowers, foliage, fruit and
birds.

STRUCTURE

In structure Jacobean furniture, even to the end of
the Carolean epoch, was extremely simple and straight-
forward. However much the types and processes of
decoration may have been affected by Continental in-
fluences, the subtleties of the foreign joiners did not
gain an appreciable hold in England till a later date.
Strength and staunchness of carcase were the objects
aimed at rather than grace of contour. Heavy rails and
stiles or posts were mortised and tenoned and pinned
together with wooden pins. Legs were firmly braced
with heavy stretchers (Figs. 1, 4 and 5) close to the
ground. Neither serpentine, bowed nor hombe fronts
had as yet come into English cabinet work and carcases
followed rectangular principles. In arm chairs the
front legs were carried up above the seat to form sup-
porting posts (Key I, 1) for the arms. In side chairs
the seat rails were tenoned into the legs until a weaker
principle of construction began in late Carolean days
(Fig. 3, h), in which the leg is socketed into the seat
frame.

In old drawers the ' ' runners ' ' are mostly formed of
broad grooves in the sides of the drawers themselves,
a corresponding flange of wood being fixed in the inte-
rior surface of the chest for them to bear upon.

Cromwellian carcase work remained much the same
except that the carved ornamentation was not so lavish
as it had been during the reigns of James and Charles.

The bedsteads were ponderous structures consist-

68 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

ing of pillars supporting a carved and panelled tester,
while the bedstead proper, on which the mattress rested,
was detached from everything except the headboard,
having plain square legs of its own (Plate I, p. 32).

Fig. 16. Characteristic mounts of the Jacobean period.

MOUNTS

The mounts of Jacobean furniture were not con-
spicuous. Scutcheons of iron or brass for keyholes
were for the most part either very modest or lacking
altogether. Sometimes a metal V-shaped flange was
placed under the keyhole of chests as a guide for the
key in a dark muniment room. In the later Carolean
times, when the refinements of the Continental cabinet
makers were more appreciated, we find gracefully
shaped brass scutcheons either chased or fretted (Fig.
16, B and F).

The handles of drawers and cabinet doors in the

JACOBEAN PERIOD 69

earlier part of the period were simple knobs of either
wood or metal (Fig. 16, I) or else — and, these a little
later — drop loops (Fig. 16, C and D). "With Carolean
refinements came pendent drops of brass (Fig. 16, E and
G), sometimes hanging from chased or fretted mounts
(Fig. 16, A). Drop loops continued in use also as well
as plain knobs.

The early hinges were modest iron strap affairs or
else concealed. Even the more ornate Carolean hinges,
embossed occasionally with circular scallops or deftly
fretted, were at the most not particularly elaborate.
It was but rarely that conspicuous hinges were seen
before a later date.

FINISH

Much of the early Jacobean furniture was quite in-
nocent of surface finish. In other cases the wood was
given a dressing with either oil or wax. Sometimes also
a kind of varnish was used made by dissolving gum
copal in boiling oil.

The usual finish was, first, an application of oil, gen-
erally nut or poppy, to "feed" the wood, and, second, a
coating of beeswax mixed wkh a little turpentine suf-
ficient to make a thick paste.

After allowing the oil to dry in for some hours or,
better still, for a day, the surface of the wood was
wiped off, removing thoroughly all the oil "sweat,"
in other words that portion of the oil not absorbed by
the wood. The wax was then applied and the surface
thoroughly rubbed and polished with a woollen rag.

The persistence and accuracy of tradition in Eng-
land are proverbial, and it is interesting to note in this
connexion that a friend of the authors', whose father

70 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

was given a fine old carved oak chest by a Somerset-
shire yeoman out of gratitude for some small legal
services, asked the donor, then a very old man, how
he had kept the chest in such excellent condition. His
reply was that his father and grandfather had always
bidden them "feed the oak with oil and polish it with
wax."

When wax only was used, as appears to have some-
times been the case, the pithy portions of surface were
dark and the grain light. Where oil was applied, the
reverse effect was produced.

For modem oak in finishing or refinishing oak, lin-
seed oil is largely used.

CHAPTER III

WILLIAM AND MAEY

1688-1702

THIS is a concise and easily understood period —
a welcome contrast to the Jacobean. It was
of shorter duration and, consequently, styles
had not the same opportunity to run through numer-
ous changes. With the names of William and Mary we
inseparably associate one clearly defined mobiliary type
of unmistakable characteristics — hooded tops (Key III,
2 ; Plate IH, p. 72) , ogeed (Key III, 3 and 4 ; Plates IV,
p. 76, and VI, p. 86) and flat arch (Key III, 1) aprons,
straight cup-turned legs and shaped stretchers (Key
III, 1, 2 and 3 ; Plate VI, p. 86). What were the deriva-
tions and variant peculiarities of these pronounced
characteristics we shall soon see. At the same time,
there is present a sufficient element of variety and evolu-
tion to make the period one of intense interest. Besides
being interesting, it is exceedingly important as mark-
ing, on the one hand, an almost complete revolution
from the forms and principles of preceding times and,
on the other, a rapid crystallisation into forms that
endured through much of the eighteenth century and
left an influence even after they had disappeared.

Because of the necessarily rapid transition to the
Queen Anne style — the William and Mary epoch lasted
but fourteen years — some of the typical forms and pro-
cesses were of short duration.

There are always overlappings of styles, but there
are times when marked changes occur with almost

72 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

startling rapidity and force even tlie most unobservant
to note the presence of a wholly new influence. Such
a time came just after the Eevolution of 1688 and in the
section on "Contour" we shall learn wherein lay much
of the difference from preceding types that then became
apparent.

Between the arrival of "William and Mary and
Queen Anne's accession, we can discern a marked in-
crease in popular appreciation of refinement and sim-
plicity. Queen Mary herself wielded an immense in-
fluence upon public taste and she it was who gave the
initial impetus to china collecting which, in turn,
affected furniture types as well as social customs and
brought a whole train of consequences in its wake. By
her signal devotion to needlework the Queen also
greatly encouraged the fashion for English women to
br older elaborate covers in "petit point" (Key III, 4;
Plate rV, p. 76) for upholstered chairs, settees and
stools.

In this needlework upholstery we find the same
strong, exuberant colour that ran riot in the gorgeous
imported stuffs and rich fabrics of home manufacture
with which men and women of the day were wont both
to clothe their bodies and cover their furniture. Eng-
lish colour sense was still fresh and lusty and joyed in
broad, vigorous tone effects that would have horrified
later generations. The advent of numerous Huguenot
textile workers, driven out of their own country by the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, vastly improved the
quality and increased the quantity of the output of
English looms, and many of the splendid textures they
made were designed and woven with special reference
to the national chromatic fancy. Marqueterie furni-

WILLIAM AND MARY WALNUT DROP-FRONT SECRETARY WITH

SINGLE HOOD TOP

By Courtesy of Messrs. Maple & Co., Tottenham Court Road, London

PLATE III

WILLIAM AND MARY - 73

ture (Plates V, p. 82, and VII, p. 90) appealed to the
same colour sense and was in high favour. Love of
colour, too, played not a little part in the fondness
for lacquer work, the passion for which had become
firmly established by the beginning of the period and
retained a strong hold long after its close. Everywhere
were found tables, cabinets, cupboards, chests and
chairs with intricate and often beautiful gold Oriental
decorations on a ground of black, blue, red or
green. The early importation of Oriental lacquer had
not only brought about its imitation and extensive man-
ufacture in England but had also stimulated a strong
Eastern taste that had led to the introduction, and
eventually the domestic manufacture, of wall paper in
bold Oriental patterns of landscapes, birds or flowers.
All these things combined to give the furnishings of
the latter part of the seventeenth century a varied
wealth of colour quite unparalleled before or since.
Other periods, perhaps, have seen greater magnificence
within certain very restricted limits, but during the
reign of WiUiam and Mary the well-to-do, through much
of the country, shared at least some of this sumptuous
rainbow brilliancy.

The Queen had excellent judgment in matters of fur-
niture and interior decoration and her taste, through its
dominance in Court circles,, had great weight in settling
styles for the whole kingdom. Of course with a Dutch
ruler on the throne, a consort who had assimilated
Dutch ways, and Dutch courtiers attending them, we
are not surprised to find Dutch styles everywhere in
vogue, importations of Dutch furniture and a powerful
Dutch influence governing the designs of English
craftsmen. Although the materials used for much of

74 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

the furniture — lacquer, marqueterie, painting and
gilding, and upholstery stuffs — ^were gorgeous in colour
or substance, or both, there was a decided trend toward
greater simplicity and purity of line. Colour and form,
rather than elaborate scroll work now appealed to
popular taste and grace of proportion was held of more
account than intricacy or dexterity of carving.

Altogether distinct from the highly ornate and high-
priced furniture, which only the wealthiest could afford,
was the plain walnut furniture, made in ever increasing
quantities to supply the demand among those of lesser
means who were now beginning to pay more serious
heed to the garnishing and comfort of their houses.
Craftsmen kept the same chaste contour in plain wal-
nut or veneer as in the more elaborate creations. The
difference lay in material and surface decoration.
Carving was often completely absent and the sole em-
bellishment consisted of unostentatious mouldings and
gracefully turned legs. It was, as Mr. Macquoid aptly
expressed it, "attractive through simplicity of shape
and quiet elegance of design."

ARTICLES

The articles of furniture most commonly in use
during this period were chairs, stools of several sorts,
forms and settles, settees or sofas, day-beds, bed-
steads, various kinds of tables, chests and chests of
drawers, highboys and lowboys, cabinets, secretaries,
desks or bureaux, cupboards, buffets, dressers, mirrors
and clocks. Other forms of furniture there were, of
course, but their use was not general enough to war-
rant placing them in the foregoing list of pieces of
daily necessity in the household economy of the time.

WILLIAM AND MARY 75

CONTOUR

As mentioned, the contour of William and Mary-
furniture is strongly individual and not to be con-
founded with anything that went before. It is at this
date that the curvilinear element comes into play and
is everyw^here conspicuous. A few minutes' careful
study of the William and Mary page of the Chrono-
logical Key and the illustrations in this chapter will
fix in the mind the characteristic features to look for
in this period — legs with inverted-cup or spindle turn-

A B

Fig. 1. A, Flemish Scroll Leg. B, Early "Ringed" or Collared Cabriole Leg.

ings (Key III, 1, 2 and 3), shaped stretchers between
these legs (Key III, 1, 2, 3 and 4), arches ogival (Key
III, 3, apron) or flat (Key III, 1, apron), and rounded
hoods to cabinets (Key III, 2), backs of chairs and
settees (Key III, 4), occurring singly, double or treble
or, sometimes, in the shape of a broken pediment
formed from the single hood. Spirally turned and
scrolled legs or legs with Spanish feet (Key III, 4) per-
sisted from the previous age, but are here united with
other William and Mary features. So also with the
cabriole leg, which originated in this period. These and
other forms of legs are shown in Figs. 1 and 4. The car-

76 PRACTICAL BOOK OP PERIOD FURNITURE

cases (bodies) of cabinet work remained rectangular.
Full details will be found in the descriptions of the
various pieces which here f oUow.

CHAIRS

In the very first part of the period, stretchers be-
tween chair legs were either turned, sometimes with
bulb turning, or scroll carved. The hooped and scrolled
Spanish stretcher was often recessed slightly from the
front legs as were also occasionally the turned
stretchers. Turned and carved straight stretchers
early gave place to shaped and serpentine stretchers
of Italian origin. These shaped and serpentine
stretchers were almost invariably arranged saltire-wise
or in X-fashion between the chair legs and were often
surmounted by a ball or finial at the point of intersec-
tion (Figs. 2 and 3). Stretchers of this sort were
either plain or moulded and were generally flat. They
were, however, sometimes rising toward the point of
intersection beneath the centre of the chair, settee or
stool (Fig. 4, S).

Legs were Flemish scrolled, carved and moulded
(Fig. 1, A); straight quadrangular (Plate VII, p. 90;
Fig. 4, C and Z>), or octagonal (Fig. 4, H and Fig. 5), or
round tapered and carved (Fig. 2), turned or moulded,
with gadroons at top, and bun feet (Fig. 4, Z>) ; straight,
with some form of turning, inverted cup, spinning top,
spindle or baluster, with bun feet (Key III, 1, 2 and 3,
and Fig. 4, N, 0, and P) ; straight with Spanish scrolled
foot (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, G), or, at the end of the period,
cabriole with hoofs, cloven goat's feet (Fig. 4, 7), or
club feet (Fig. 1, B). Many early cabriole legs had
either an angle in the curve or were "ringed" or "col-

WILLIAM AND MARY

lared" with a moulding below the knee and sometimes
both "ring" and angle occur (Fig. 1, B, and Fig. 4, E).

Seats were approximately square with a slight nar-
rowing towards the back (Fig. 2) and the framing was
either visible or upholstered. The front legs of side
chairs were dowelled into the seat rails. At the ex-
treme end of the period the front
comers of seat framing were
sometimes rounded.

Backs for the most part were
high and were caned, carved, up-
holstered or balustered. Often
there was a combination of carv-
ing and .upholstery or caning
and carving. Nearly all of the
caned and upholstered backs,
especially, were high (Fig. 2),
and the upholstered backs usu-
ally had more rake than the
caned backs. "Banister back"
chairs had the same general
characteristics as the cane-
backed chairs, except that four
or more split balusters were used in the back instead
of caning. The tops of the upholstered backs were
straight across (Fig. 2) or else shaped in Spanish wise
with cyma curves and semi-circle, resembling in gen-
eral outline the hooded cabinet work (Fig. 3). Up-
rights of carved or caned chairs were ordinarily bal-
uster turned. The carved wooden backs usually finished
in elaborate cresting (Plate IV, p. 76), the central
portion, containing most of the carving,being separated
from the uprights and supported by the cresting and a

FiQ. 2. Upholstered Square-
back Arm-chair with Straight
Carved and Turned Legs.
By Courtesy of Chapman Dec-
orative Co., Philadelphia.

78 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

cross-rail just above the seat line. This cross-rail had
scroll work or carving below to carry out a correspond-
ence with the ornate cresting. Caned backs finished
with carved cresting or plain moulded shaping. Among
both caned and carved backs we find the cresting either
carried over and dowelled to the uprights or fastened
between the uprights which terminate in finials. In
the caned backs with a moulded cresting the cane is
stretched from uprights and crest, while with the other
sorts of cresting the cane is stretched from a frame
between the uprights.

Towards the end of the period the central splat
began to assume a strongly individual form and the
spaces between the splat and the uprights were often
caned. In some instances the back approximated the
fiddle shape, though it was not so clearly defined as in
the succeeding period. When cabriole legs appear we
find the back slightly "spooned" to fit the contour of
the body. Arms were either of wood, shaped with an
outward flare, or upholstered and rolled.

STOOLS

Stools were still in considerable demand in lieu of
chairs. What has been said of chairs regarding struc-
ture, form of legs, stretchers, upholstery and the like
applies equally to stools. In addition to stools meant for
one person to sit upon, there were long stools, as long
as settees, that would accommodate two or three people.
Joint stools with turned legs were found everywhere.

FORMS AND SETTLES

Forms and settles continued to be made in the coun-
try districts and for those in humbler circumstances
and were usually of oak.

WILLIA^I AND MARY

SETTEES

As settees were for the most part simply chairs
lengthened out there is little additional to be said of
them. Attention, however, must be called to the wings
or flaps at the sides and the f requen|, shaping or double
arching of the backs (Fig. 3). Settees with double
arched backs usually had two squab cushions side by
side instead of one long one (Fig. 3).

Fia. 3.

Settee with Double Arched Back, Fluted Spindle Legs and Spanish Scroll Feet
with Shaped Stretchers.
By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Xehne, Philadelphia.

DAY-BEDS

Day-beds were made with legs and upholstery con-
forming to the prevalent styles as exemplified in chairs
and settees. They even appeared — and this was
notably the case in America — made of the less expen-
sive woods with rudely turned legs and rush seats, and
it was quite evident that they filled an important place
in the households of some of the humbler members of
the community.

80 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

BEDSTEADS

During this period many people continued to use
the substantial oak bedsteads of Stuart days. For the
newer houses, whose chambers were built with lofty
ceilings, bedsteads were made with exceedingly tall,
slender posts, round or octagonal, and testers with elab-
orately moulded cornices. Some of these creations
towered sixteen or seventeen feet in the air. Not only
were these gigantic bedsteads well curtained, but the
woodwork was practically invisible, being almost
wholly covered with brocades, velvets, satins or silks
closely "strained" or glued on so that no detail of the
contour of the intricate mouldings would be lost.
Chintzes were also much used for bed-hangings.

The less important members of the household slept
in truckle beds, cupboard beds, "turn-up" beds or
"press beds" (which shut up against the wall) or on
pallets, all of which seem to have completely dis-
appeared.

In America the bedposts never reached such an ex-
aggerated height as they did in England.

TABLES

The typical dining table of the period was the gate
which, when the leaves were extended and supported
by the gates being pulled out, were generally round or
oval in shape and could comfortably accommodate
eight or ten persons (Key II, 7). The legs of these
tables were turned.

Of common occurrence were small rectangular tables
with cup or spindle turned legs, saltire stretchers and
bun feet (Key III, 1, and section on Lowboys). While

WILLIAM AND MARY

the gate tables were plain, these small tables were often
highly decorated with marqueterie or lacquer.

It was not an age of large tables such as those that

Fig. 4. Details of Feet, Legs and Mouldings Characteriatio of William and Mary Period.

had characterised earlier Stuart days and instead of
the long refectory boards we find a host of small tables
for cards, writing, dressing, tea, gaming and various
other uses.
6

82 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Besides gate tables, there were small folding tables
made upon the same principle and having turned legs
and "butterfly." tables with outward splayed turned
legs and movable wing brackets to uphold little leaves
on each side.

At this same time were found, chiefly in America
(see Chapter on "Other American Furniture"), small
rectangular, tables with four straight turned legs and
straight turned stretchers. They were simpler than
the tables with cup-turned legs and bun feet but full of
grace. Joint stool^ of similar pattern frequently ac-
compajoied them (Key XVIII, 5) .

CHESTS ,0P DRAWEES AND CHESTS

Chests of- drawers were of two kinds, having the
carcase in oneior two sections respectively. Those of
one section had three to five drawers. They were usu-
ally four drawers in height, the upper space being
occupied by two short drawers instead of one long
drawer. The tops were flat and upon them often stood
lace boxes, covered with lacquer or inlaid with mar-
queterie to match the chest. In other words, the one-'
section chest of drawers was a dressirPg cabinet.

When a chest of drawers had two sections, the
upper was slightly smaller than the lower and the divi-
sion between the two was marked by a bold moulding.
The upper section usually had a straight top, fiiiished
with a cornice and either a projecting ovolo (Fig. 4, ^)
or a flat frieze. Sometimes the top was single hooded
or the hood was shaped into a broken pediment. Chests
of this' sort were known as "tallboys" and were near
akin to highboys. On both one- and two-section chests
the feet were either straight bracket (Fig. 4, F) or bun

» :5

ft- :

3 ■

3 =

w -

WILLIAM AND MARY 83

(Fig. 4, 0, and Key III ; 1, 2 and 3) . The drawers were
either separated and edged by broad half-round mould-
ings on the stiles and rails of the carcase or else the
stile and rail surfaces were flat and the drawer fronts
flush with them. All the usual decorative processes
were lavishly used on both sorts of chests of drawers.

Another variety of the two-piece chest of drawers
had a lower section consisting of a very low stand (Key
I, 5) on legs of spiral-turned, cup-turned or, very late
in the period, cabriole pattern, the cabriole having an
angle on the outer curve and a "ring" (Fig. 4, E) or
collar (Fig. 4, E) of moulding below the knee. The
stands with cabriole legs had no stretchers. These low
stands sometimes had one long or two (Key I, 5) short
shallow drawers. This latter variety of two-section
chest of drawers was even closer to the highboy than
the former, but was too low and squat to be so classified.
These low two-section chests and the one-section chests
were further marked by lack of prominent mouldings
or projection at the top.

Low chests with lifting lids continued to be used.

HIGHBOYS AKD LOWBOYS

As a well-defined type of furniture the highboy dates
from this period and continued to be made in England
during the first quarter of the eighteenth century. In
America it remained in popular favcSur much longer
and was made in great numbers till the end of the
eighteenth century. The name "highboy" is of com-
paratively late American origin, and is little known in
England, where the article so yclept is not so plentiful
as in the States.

Highboys consist of two parts, a chest of drawers

84 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

and a stand with five or six legs, one, two or three
drawers and a shaped skirt or apron (Key III, 3).
In height William and Mary highboys ranged from
four to six feet, or even more. The upper or chest por-
tion was usually four drawers in height, the upper
drawer space divided between two or three drawers.
Bails and stiles of framework sometimes had half-

«i»

"^^

«>

Fig. 5. Unusual Type of Highboy
in One Piece, Siiowing strong Dutch
Influence.

By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne,
Philadelphia.

round moulding or double bead moulding making sur-
rounds for the drawers, sometimes they were flat. The
tops were generally straight, the cornice being some-
times with and sometimes without a frieze. In the
latter case the frieze was often of the projecting ovolo,
torus or cushion type (Fig. 4:, A), and held a concealed
drawer. Towards the latter part of the seventeenth
century the tops were occasionally hooded, even triple
hooded examples occurring.

The lower portion or stand was similar to a table

WILLIAM AND MARY 85

and had either five or six legs, three or four in front
and two at the back, joined by shaped flat stretchers
(Fig. 7), concave, serpentine or ogeed. Feet were of
bun (Figs. 5 and 7) or inverted-cup (Fig. 4, B) shape.
The legs were turned in spiral (Fig. 4, M), octagonal
(Fig. 5), spindle (Fig. 4, 0), trumpet or inverted-cup
(Key III, 3) fashion. The apron or skirt between the
legs was cut into a simple arch (Key III, 1), or an ogee
(Key III, 3), or a combination of cyma curve and arch
and the edge was often relieved by a narrow bead
moulding formed from a narrow strip of wood facing
the cut. Above this shaped apron the base contained
sometimes one, sometimes three drawers (Key III, 3).
The usual arrangement was two deep drawers on either
side and a shallow one in the centre. Towards the end
of the century highboys were sometimes made with
four cabriole legs (Fig. 4, E) without stretchers, sup-
porting the base instead of the usual six straight turned
legs.

Lowboys were small dressing tables similar to the
bases of highboys. Occasionally they had five or six
legs, but more usually four. Aprons were shaped as
in the bases of highboys but the place of the two middle
front legs was supplied by acorn pendants (Key III, 1).
Drawers were arranged as in highboy stands. The flat
serpentine stretchers were generally placed X- or
saltire-wise (Key III, 1) with a ball or vase finial at
the junction (Fig. 4, D and H).

CABINETS

Cabinets were nearly always in two parts, upper
and lower. Closely related to the highboy was the
cabinet set on a stand, and the fashion for cabinets of

86 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITUKJiJ

this sort seems to have been of Italian origin. The tops
were usually straight and there was often a bold ovolo.
frieze immediately below the cornice. The front, com-
posed o,f two doors (Plates V, p. 82, and VII, p. 90),
being opened, disclosed tiers of drawers, sometimes'
built about a small central cupboard and sometime^;
there were also pigeon-hole recesses. *Some of the cabi-.
nets were without doors in front and displayed all the
small drawers. When the cabinets were "oyster" ve-
neered (Plate V, p. 82), inlaid with marqueterie' or
lacquered, both the outer and inner sides of the doors
were decorated, as were also the fronts of the iimer

PiQ. 6. Characteristic Double Hood of William and Mary Period.

drawers and cupboard. The division between the cabit
nets and stands was clearly defined by mouldings and
cornice, and the stands were much like tables, with or
without drawers in the underframing, and had five or
six legs, which were spiral-turned, C-scroUed (Fig. 4,
Q), baluster- (Fig. 4, N), spindle- (Fig. 4, P), or cup-
turned, flat stretchers concaved, shaped or ogeed and
bun, block or inverted-cup feet.

Another form of cabinet, sometimes called a press
cabinet, had drawers in the lower part and was virtu-
ally a cabinet set on a low chest of drawers. Cabinets
of this sort usually had a straight top but were also
found with double hooded tops (Fig. 6), the corners and
centre occasionally being adorned with vase-shaped
finials (Key IV, 2). These cabinets generally stood on

WILLIAM AND MARY OYSTERED AND INLAID CABINET ON .STAND

WITH "TRUMPET TURNED" LEGS

By Courtesy of Messrs. Cooper & Griffith, New York City

PLATE VI

WILLIAM AND MARY 87

bun or straight bracket feet (Fig, 4, B, K, L, 8, and T) .
A variation of this form of cabinet had doors in the
lower portion as well as in the upper.

The most elaborate lacquered cabinets, as in the
Carolean period, had straight tops, without cornice or
mouldings, intricately chased and fretted brass mounts
and were usually set upon ornately carved and gilt
stands, not at all like the plainer table stands of other
cabinets.

Cabinets meant for the display of china had glass
paned doors (Key III, 2), straight or hooded tops and
were set on lower and shorter legged stands which, how-
ever, resembled the supports of other cabinets and
highboys. All the forms of cabinets except the last,
which was plain for obvious reasons, were frequently
covered with elaborate decoration.

BUREAU CABINETS AND SECRETAEIEB OR DESKS

Writing furniture of this period was varied in char-
acter. It may be classified under five types. First,
there was the writing cabinet with drawers below,
standing on bun or straight bracket feet. The whole
front of the upper portion was a single falling flap,
hinged at the bottom and showing, when open, drawers
and pigeon-holes. The top was sometimes single
hooded, sometimes straight with an ovolo frieze below
the cornice (Plate HI, p. 72) .

The second type was practically the secretary or
bureau-bookcase, having drawers in the lower part sur-
mounted by a slant-top desk, hinged at the bottom of
the flap. The upper cabinet portion, which showed a
tendency to become higher towards the end of the cen-
tury to suit the greater height of the rooms, generally

88 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FUKJNliUJttiL

had a double hooded top, sometimes with and some-
times without vase-shaped finials at the comers and
centre (Key IV, 2). The two doors had either mir-
ror or wood panels with cyma and semi-circle heads as
in Plate IX, p. 112. Above the slant top there were
usually sliding candle brackets and there were sliding

supports for the lid when
open. This type of desk or
secretary really belongs to
the transition between the
William and Mary and Queen
Anne periods and continued
to be made, usually with the
modification of a straight
top, till about 1730.

A third type was the
narrow slant top desk on cup-
turned legs with flat-shaped
stretchers and bun feet like
the piece shown in Fig. 7.
Sometimes it was Sur-
mounted with a tall double-
hooded cabinet with finial
ornaments.

The fourth sort was the
knee-hole secretary with a
recess in the middle to make room for the knees of the
writer. At the sides were tiers of drawers. The desk
part either opened straight or with a slant flap, and
there was usually no superstructure. Short cup-
turned legs, shaped flat stretchers and bun feet were
used or else straight bracket feet.

The fifth kind was the gate-legged desk' having a
slant flap opening on hinges at the bottom, six spindle-

Fia. 7. Small Secretary with Typical
Inverted Cup Legs and Shaped Flat
Stretchers.

By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne,
Philadelphia.

WILLIAM AND MARY 89

turned legs braced by serpentine flat stretchers at their
shoulders and flat-shaped stretchers just above the
feet. The two central legs swung out like the legs of a
gate table to support the flap when the desk was opened.
All the usual decorative processes were applied to sec-
retaries and bureau-cabinets or bookcases.

CUPBOAEDS

In this period the cupboards of earlier days were
largely superseded by chests of drawers, cabinets and
highboys. For the accommodation of china, the col-
lecting of which had become fashionable, a piece of
furniture was devised, for the description of which see
"Cabinets" and Key III, 2. The three-cornered cup-
board also made its appearance at the end of the period,
having straight or broken pediment top, one or two
doors above and one or two below, with occasionally a
drawer between. Cupboards on six-legged stands are
sometimes met with.

BUFFETS OR DRESSERS

Sideboards were not, as yet, but their place was
taken by the dressers, "Welsh dressers as some call them,
and by the buffets and court cupboards in use during
the preceding period. Some of the dressers were sup-
ported on legs, in others the substructure, enclosed by
doors with characteristic ogeed panels, rested on the
floor. The upper portion was open, mth shallow
shelves for platters and plate. Towards the end of
the century small walnut side tables with wooden or
marble tops and four, five or six straight legs of char-
acteristic shape (see "Highboys.") came into use.

MIRRORS

The more elaborate mirror frames found in Eng-
land were carved by Gf^rinling Gibbon, Cibber or their

90 PEACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD J^UKJNiiujttiL

imitators. Pine or lime woods were generally used for
this purpose. The plainer frames were of walnut, or
sometimes of olive or ebony and were occasionally deco-
rated with marqueterie in both England and America.
They were small and square or rectangular and were
composed of a broad ovolo band with smaller mould-
ings at the inner and outer edges. The top was usually
adorned with the hooded motif formed of a semi-circle
or a semi-circle rising from quarter circles, and there
was often an additional embellishment of foliated fret-
work. The glass was ordinarily bevelled. Besides
these there were small swivelled mirrors supported be-
tween uprights rising from little stands with drawers
which were placed on top of dressing chests. The tops
of these small mirrors were often shaped like the panel
heads of cabinet doors (Plate IX, p. 112). At this time
mirrors were used for decorative purposes in the panels
of cabinet and secretary doors.

CLOCKS

Both tall-case and bracket clocks were found in this
period and were usually subjects for rather elaborate
ornamentation. Marqueterie, oystering and lacquer
were freely used in their decorations, particularly the
tall-case clocks, many of which had a circular hole in
the middle of the door filled with either clear glass or
a bull's-eye. The tops frequently had the hooded or
arched form. The dials were generally of engraved or
chased brass,

MATERIALS

■'"Walnut. Walnut was such a favourite wood for
furniture and so extensively used during this period
that it is usually termed the beginning of the "age of

WILLIAM AND MARY 91

walnut." It was used as a groundwork and also as a
veneer on a ground of oak or even a soft wood.
Although small tables and chairs were occasionally
made of walnut before this time, oak was used almost
altogether for cabinet work down to the very end of the
Jacobean period, except in rare cases where walnut was
imported.

Oak. Notwithstanding the great vogue of walnut,
oak was still considerably used by itself for cabinet
work, particularly in country districts, or as a base or
groundwork for the application of veneer or mar-
queterie of other woods. It was also employed for
panelling or wainscotting.

Deal,. Deal was used for panelling and also for
heavy carving, such as cabinet stands, where the sur-
face was to be gilt.

Pine, Peak- wood. Lime- wood and Cedab. These and
several other soft woods were much used for elaborate
carving that could ill be wrought in the harder woods,
which were, of course, more difficult for the carver to
manage. The surface was usually either gilt or painted.

Olive-wood and Ebony were used for small mirror
frames.

Veneeb "Woods. Sycamore, laburnum, apple-wood,
holly, box and many others were in constant use for in-
lay and marqueterie.

Upholsteby Stuffs. From the very beginning of
the period onward, upholstery for chairs, settees and
stools commanded more and more attention. Backs,
arms and oftentimes the seat framing were uphol-
stered with a fixed covering, while movable or "squab"
cushions, covered with the same goods, were placed on
the seats. A settee usually had two squabs side by side.

92 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Squabs were even put on oak settles that were ar-
ranged with a cord and sacking bottom to receive them.
Most stools and many chairs and settees had the seats
upholstered with a fixed covering instead of squabs.
The settlement of Huguenot textile weavers in England
during the reign of Charles II, and the steady produc-
tion of their fascinating fabrics bred a desire for more
upholstered furniture where the gorgeous brocades and
velvets might appear to advantage. The fashion ob-
tained favour and reached its height in the ensuing
periods with which we are now concerned. Gray col-
oured damasks, brocades and velvets were the stuffs
chiefly used. Instead of the heavy fringes of Carolean
days the favourite trinuning consisted of wide galons
of gold, silver or coloured braid. The same rich mate-
rials were used for bed hangings. Another highly
prized covering for settees and large arm chairs was
made of the elaborate needlework done in "tent stitch"
or petit pomt by the ladies in emulation of the example
set them by Queen Mary. Less expensive stuff, such
as figured chintz, also afforded material for upholstery,
hangings and curtains.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

The usual decorative processes in the William and
Mary period were turning, carving, painting, gilding,
veneering, marqueterie and lacquering or Japanning,
as it was frequently styled.

Turning. The practise of turning appreciably in-
creased during this period, while that of carving on flat
surfaces declined.

Cabving. Carving in the round was considerably
practised and, though Grinling Gibbon carved no fur-

WILLIAM AND MARY 93

niture other than mirror frames, his school of followers
executed much admirable and elaborate work.

Painting. Paint, in conjunction with gilding, was
chiefly used on the legs and stretchers of chairs, settees
and stools, either to match or contrast with the vivid
colours of the upholstery. Framework was often
painted black and parcel gilt to harmonise with lac-
quered furniture. A few examples occur of simple
painted floral decoration.

Gilding, Ornate carvings in the round, such as
console tables and stands for lacquered cabinets, were
often wholly gilt, while painted legs and stretchers and
sometimes whole chairs were parcel gilt.

Veneeb. Veneer of walnut, either plain or
oystered, and sometimes of other woods, was com-
monly set on a ground of oak or deal.

Maequetekie. One of the most popular decorative
processes of this period was marqueterie, at times al-
most rivalling the fabrics in richness of effect. The
marqueterie of the William and Mary period was cut
out of thin layers with a saw and set in a surrounding
surface of veneer of the same thickness, both veneer
and marqueterie patterns being glued to the ground
work or backing. This process showed an advance in
dexterity over the marqueterie methods of the Stuart
period, when the pieces forming the design were set in
cavities gouged out of the surface to be decorated, a
performance very much like filling teeth. In order to
secure flat surfaces for marqueterie embellishment the
contour of furniture was held in far greater restraint
than formerly.

Lacquer. In the last fifteen years of the seven-
teenth century the passion for lacquer ware was so gen-

94 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

eral that it was made not only by regular craftsmen
but by amateurs as a pleasant diversion. The English
lacquer has not the smooth, brilliant adamantine sur-
face of the Oriental lacquer, nor has the English gold
the same metallic lustre,

TYPES OF DECORATION

William and Mary types of decoration were much
less complex than those of the Stuart period, though
quite as effective.

TuENiNG displayed the open twist or spiral, baluster
and spindle forms, the details shown in Figure 4, and
variations of them. Bun feet of several varieties must
not be forgotten.

Cakving in relief of this period contains a great
many examples of the favourite Dutch cockle or escallop
shell and occasionally specimens of acanthus, pendent
husks and similar motifs are met with. Flemish scrolls
and Spanish scroll feet are frequent. In the round
carving we find flowers, fruit, terminal figures, heads
and laurel swags. These, of course, occur on highly
ornate and gilded stands and consoles.

Maeqtjetebib patterns were mainly floral, although
birds, animals, and even human figures sometimes oc-
curred. During this period the acanthus pattern grad-
ually superseded the flowers and towards the latter part
gave way itself to the intricate seaweed design, which
often occurred on the drawer fronts of chests and
cabinets in two oblong panels with curved ends.

Lacqtjee evidenced an unmistakable western touch
in the imitations of Oriental drawing. Conventional
borders and diapers were also used. The ordinary

WILLIAM AND MARY

ground colours were black, red, green and blue. The
figures of course were in gold.

Apeons or plain stretcher underframings were
shaped on the lower edge with the oft-recurring ogee
or modifications of its curves.

STRUCTURE

Structure of cabinet work was straightforward and
simple. There were no recessed or shaped fronts to
complicate the joinery. Chair and table legs were
firmly braced with stretchers. In some of the chairs
the cresting was tenoned between the uprights which
terminated in finials. Others, not as strong construc-
tionally, had the cresting dowelled on to the tops of the
uprights. In some chairs front legs are mortised to the
seat rail, in others their tops are merely set into sockets
in the seat framing.

MOUNTS

Knobs, pear-drop handles and drops of slightly dif-
ferent pattern, bails with plates plain or chased are

Fia. 8. Characteristic Metal Mounts of WiUiam and Mary Period.

the forms chiefly met with. Escutcheons and key-plates
with cherubs' heads and also other elaborations are

96 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

found on some of the cabinet work. On lacquer cab-
inets it was usual to have ornate chased and perforated
hinges and key-plates.

FINISH

Furniture of the "William and Mary period was fre-
quently finished with oil and wax as in the Stuart pe-
riod. This was especially true of the plainer walnut
furniture. Much of the marqueterie furniture was
finished by an application of white gum shellac dis-
solved in alcohol. This dressing was applied with a
brush in thin coats and without a previous application
of oil to the surface of the wood. After the necessary
number of varnish coats had been given, a final polish
was effected by rubbing with the mixture of beeswax
and turpentine. This finish unfortunately rendered the
wood liable to attacks by worms, which were attracted
by the shellac. Walnut furniture that has never been
treated with this finish or with any sort of varnish is
much freer from the ravages of worms than furniture
that has been polished with anything else than wax.

CHAPTER IV

QUEEN ANNE AND EAKLY GEORGIAN
1702-1750

Anne 1702-1714

Geokge I 1714^1727

Geobge II 1727-1760

THE period now to be treated is a long one but
definite in its characteristics and easily
grasped. The reigns of Queen Anne's two
immediate successors are naturally and sensibly best
treated with here for the reason that during a large
portion of the early Georgian epoch the forms of fur-
niture experienced little change and the process of
mobiliary evolution was to be detected in ornamenta-
tion rather than in contour.

As we foUow the history of furniture according to
chronological sequence, the reign of Queen Anne seems
always to have a sturdy, wide-awake character about
it. "We feel that modern England has indeed begun
when we reach that point. The last vestige of romantic
mediaevalism vanished when James II, sung out of Ire-
land to the infectious tune of "Lilliburlero buUen
aUah ! ' ' fled across the Channel to France and left the
way to the throne open to his little Dutch kinsman and
rival. With the advent of the Stadtholder and his ami-
able consort, to whose apron strings, however, her
positive spouse declined point blank to be attached,
although she had far more right to the throne than he,
new forces began to work and a period of transition
set in.

7 97

98 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

By the time of Anne's accession tlie new modern
spirit had had a chance to grow and assert itself. One
of the ways in which it did assert itself was in the
evident desire and determination in all quarters to im-
prove conditions of domestic comfort. The amenities
of household equipment were more heeded and, further-
more, the spirit of improvement was more widely dif-
fused than ever before. It was not only in the houses
of the very wealthy that a general betterment was
noticeable but in the dwellings of those in less affluent
case the change could be discerned as well. This in-
crease in the demand for creature comforts and con-
veniences, for finer houses and more furniture, meant,
of course, that chair and cabinet makers throve apace.

Queen Anne furniture has certain clearly defined
characteristics of form that enable one to distinguish
it at once from antecedent types. In the chapter im-
mediately preceding were rehearsed the peculiarly
distinctive traits of William and Mary furniture.
While there was the usual overlapping of styles we
can say, however, with perfect assurance, that the
forms we consider as typical of the William and Mary
epoch were wholly discontinued in the early years of
the eighteenth century and that the distinctively Queen
Anne type developed and flourished for a long period
of years, so that the furniture affinities of Queen Anne 's
day belong rather with those of her successors' reigns
than with those of her predecessors' — Whence the divi-
sion adopted at the head of this chapter.

The typical forms of Queen Anne furniture are
shown in the Chronological Key and the illustrations
to this chapter, and are carefully described under the
individual pieces. (During her own reign the surfaces

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 99

were for the most part plain, ornamentation being
largely confined to the familiar and favourite shell
(Fig. 1).

For the thirty or thirty-five years succeeding the
death of Queen Anne, furniture exhibited no radical
change in form but rather, as stated before, an elabo-
ration of patterns, already well recognised, together
with certain gradual minor developments in divers
channels.

Mr. Herbert Cescinsky, in his admirable work,
English, Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, has sug-

Fia. 1. Typical Chair Legs,
Queen Anne Period.

gested a very lucid and comprehensive classification
for the decorative types evolved during this era which
we cannot do better than quote at this point. He says :
"In dealing with the furniture of the years from 1714
to 1745, that is, from the accession of George the First
to the middle of the reign of George the Second, it is
inevitable that some system of classification is required.
It is possible either to arrange examples in the order
of their date, or to adopt the five-fold division of deco-
rated Queen Anne furniture, carved with lion-heads,
satyr-masques, or cabochon-and-leaf ornament and ar-

100 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

cMtects ' furniture. The latter system is the more ad-
visable, as although examples of the five' classes neces-
sarily exhibit, in their details, a tendency to overlap, the
former would result in a mere jumble of specimens of
every conceivable design and form, without any con-
structional or evolutionary relation whatever,"

These fashions, for the sake of convenience, he
roughly summarises as follows: Decorated Queen
Anne, 1714 to 1725; the "lion period," 1720 to 1735;
the "satyr-masque period," 1730 to 1740; the "cabo-
chon-and-leaf period," 1735 to the rise of Chippendale
to recognition as "almost the sole arbiter of the furni-
ture fashions of England. ' ' The ' ' architects ' furniture
period" is concurrent with all the four first mentioned.

The distinguishing characteristic of the decorated
Queen Anne style is greater elaboration of carving
than was formerly the fashion, the chief motifs being
more cockle shells, occasionally with pendent husks
below them (Key V, 4 and 6), distributed on the knees
of chairs, settees and tables and the backs and seat
rails of chairs and settees ; vigorously carved claw-and-
ball feet (Key V, 4) and boldly executed eagles' heads
(Key V, 5) to terminate the arms of chairs and set-
tees, the same design occurring also at times in the
backs. The "lion period" brought lions' heads on the
knees, backs and seat rails of furniture in place of the
details mentioned with the foregoing vogue (Fig. 2, A).
The feet were oftentimes lions' paws. "Satyr-masque"
furniture had grotesque heads where before were
lions' heads (Fig. 2, C). The grotesques, in turn, gave
way to the "cabochon-and-leaf " motif which Chippen-
dale used as an important factor in "the design-basis
of his earliest manner" (Fig. 2,B). Georgian "archi-

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 101

tects' furniture" comprised the larger pieces of cabinet
work which were usually designed upon more or less
architectural lines with pilasters and surmounting
pediments (Plate IX, p. 112) . From time to time during
this early Georgian era we can discern rudimentary
forms cropping out here and there that afterwards
crystallised into distinct features under Chippendale's
hand.

One of the most significant incidents of the Queen
Aime-Early Georgian period was the popularisation of

*5fX^

Fig. 2.

of (,A) Lion, (B) Cabochon, and (C) Satyr-masque, Phases of Early
Georgian Furniture.

mahogany for chairs and cabinet work. Its entrance
into popular favour from about 1720 onward was rapid.
Fuller reference will be made subsequently to the cir-
cumstances of its introduction. Suffice it to say here
ihat its use produced important modifications in both
structure and form of decoration. Furniture patterns,
however, that were in fashion prior to 1720 do not seem
to have changed materially because of the prevalence
of the new wood, except that they became lighter and
more graceful, and we also find far greater elaboration
of carving, to which mahogany lent itself particularly

102 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

well. The time, barren of any striking originality, saw
the craftsman bending his energies to the refinement
and embellishment of accepted forms rather than the
designing of new ones. Barring a few variations in
chair back types, the most they apparently did in the

Fig. 3. Highly Carved and Gilt Leg.

way of invention was to devise or borrow, new Retails
of decoration to meet the constant demand of their
patrons for a measure of novelty.

ARTICLES

A catalogue of the articles of usual occurrence em-
braces chairs, stools, settles, settees or sofas, day-beds,
bedsteads, tables, chests and chests of drawers, high-
boys and lowboys, cabinets, secretaries or bureau-cab-
inets, bookcases, cupboards, buffets or dressers, mir-
rors, gueridons or pedestals and clocks. There were
also sundry minor pieces which it is not necessary to
catalogue.

CONTOUR

A study of the contour of furniture in the Queen
Anne-Early Greorgian period shows, in the first place,

QUEEN ANNE BLACK AND GOLD LACQUERED CORNER

CUPBOARD

By Courtesy of Mr. Richard W. Lehne, Philadelphia

PLATE VIII

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 103

the discontinuance of certain types that had enjoyed
high favour in the days of William and Mary. To
begin with, the perpendicular legs of chairs, settees,
stools, tables and highboys with the inverted-cup- turn-
ings, shaped stretchers and bun feet, went quite out of
fashion, being superseded by legs of cabriole form
(Fig. 1). Backs of chairs, especially the backs of
upholstered chairs, which had hitherto risen to a great
height, were made lower, as were also the backs of set-
tees. Cornices about the tops of double chests and
cabinets lost their prominent ovolo or torus frieze
(Fig. 4, A, Chap. III). The single and double hooded
tops of cabinet work did not endure much longer but
developed a modification that was occasionally met
with till fairly late in the reign — a kind of modified ogee
superstructure above the double hood motif. Arched
serpentine or ogee cresting of upholstered chair backs
also went out of vogue.

In the heads of door panels and in mirror frames,
especially, and also in the backs of chairs, the wave or
cyma curve, either singly or in combinations, was an
important element of form (Plate IX, p. 112). Mr.
Lockwood, in the latest edition of his Colonial Furniture
in America — a most useful book — ^has succinctly dealt
with this detail. He says: "Two cyma curves placed

thus r *( formed the design of the chair backs. A cyma

curve thus ] formed the cabriole leg. Two cyma curves

placed thus _/" "\_ formed the scroll top found
on highboys, secretaries and cupboards. When placed

thus .^ — N they formed the familiar outline found

on the skirts of highboys, lowboys and other pieces.

104 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURJNlTURJi

Mouldings, cupboard openings, and the inner edges of
mirrors were cut in the same curve."

Although carcase work had hitherto been rectilinear
and continued so in the main, we nevertheless find occa-
sional examples of kettle front cabinets and low chests
of drawers. The swell of their fronts, corners and
sides was less sweeping in curve than the later bombe
fronts of the Chippendale period and was apt to be
broken into several small curves. They were of dis-
tinctly Dutch inspiration. Backs of the better sort of
chairs were "spooned" or steped to accommodate the
back of the occupant (Fig. 4, 5). Backs of other chairs
were straight or had a slight rake. Upholstered easy
chairs were apt to have shaped wing head-rests and
stuffed-over arms flaring outward (Key V, 4). Chairs
began to be made without stretchers early in this
period. Although the "square-back" chair came in
long before that date (Fig. 7, B), the "hoop-back"
chair (Fig. 4, A and B) continued to be made till about
the middle of the century. )

[ Cabinet work increased in height with the incAas-
ing height of ceilings and was frequently surmounted
by pediments, unbroken, broken, rounded, swan-neckj
or, better still, to invent a term, serpentine or bow, all
of them, however, of flatter contour than those oc-
curring in later times. (W^ith the increased use of ma-
hogany in the latter part of the period, structure
tended to become lighter. «

CHAIRS

r The typical Queen Anne chair is a distinct and
strongly characteristic piece of furniture not to be
confounded with anything else. It is also a singularly

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 105

beautiful and graceful creation and exceedingly com-
fortable. It has cabriole legs and a fiddle-splatted,
hooped and "spooned" back (Key V, 7 and 10; Fig. 4).
The uprights of the back, a few inches above the seat,
break at a sharp angle and curve in towards the splat
only to swell out again in a graceful, sweeping curve at
the top, which goes over in a bow without break of line
to the other upright (Fig. 4). Variations there were,

Fia. 4. A, Early Queen Anne Arm Chair; B, Early Queen Anne Side Chair with
Stretchers.

of course, but the general type was unmistakable. The
earlier chairs had stretchers (Fig. 4, 5) to underbrace
them, but these were dispensed with in most cases not
long after the beginning of the period. Instead of a
stretcher between the front legs there was a recessed
stretcher (Fig. 4, B) connecting the two side stretchers,
shaped, turned or moulded and either flat or rising.
After the early disappearance of the stretcher it did
not appear again, except in the cheaper turned furni-

106 PHACTICAL BOOK Uh' TJ^KiUU j^UKiNiiUitiii

ture of farmlioiise type, until CMppendale styles re-
vived it. Early Queen Anne cabriole legs sometimes
had hoof feet (Fig. 4, 7, Chap. Ill), solid or cloven,
and occasionally Spanish scroll feet (Fig. 4, G, Chap.
Ill), the latter form occurring especially in early New
England chairs of the period, with straight turned legs.
The usual form of foot, however, was the "Dutch" or
club foot in one of its varieties (Fig. 1); pointed,
slipper or round-cloven hoof feet appeared again later
when claw and ball and paw feet came into vogue. The

Fig. 5. Typical Shapes of Queen Anne Chair-seats.

web foot (Fig. 8, A) occurs at this time. The common
motif of carved decoration for the cabriole knee was
the cockle shell, except in the cases noted in the in-
troduction to this chapter. Back legs were either quad-
rangular or rounded.

Seats varied in shape (Fig. 5) but were usually
rounded or had at least rounded corners in front, and
sometimes compound curves were introduced, giving
the front of the seat a serpentine outline and project-
ing the rounded corners like the bastions of a fortress.
Seat rails or frames were ordinarily straight, except

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 107

for the carved shell ornament often found in the middle
of the front.

Backs also varied in shape but held to the main
characteristics of outline till the influence of Chippen-
dale and his contemporaries began to be strongly felt.
Some of the early hooped backs, though "spooned" in
profile^had uprights rising straight from seat to crest-
ing without angular or concave break like the side of

FiQ. 6. Back and Leg of Chair typical of Late William and Mary and Early Queen

Anne Epoch.

a fiddle. Then, again, there are instances of two such
sharp curving breaks (Fig. 6) in each upright instead
of the customary one. We sometimes find double-rail
hooped backs (Key V, 5) where the splat terminates in
a hooped cresting and above this, quite separate from
it, is another hooped top rail connecting with the up-
right. In the New England and New York rush-bot-
tomed chairs with straight turned legs, Spanish feet
and turned stretchers, the pronouncedly Dutch form
of back, with the uprights of unbroken line (Fig. 8, j5),

108 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

was usually found. Tlie banister-back, being a vigorous
and virile type, persisted for a time.

At different dates the splats displayed variations
in form, but an approximation to the fiddle shape was
always traceable. Nearly all of the early splats were
plain, often covered with veneer of burr walnut. Later,
in the decorated period (see Introduction to Chapter)

A B

Fig. 7. A, Pierced Splat-back Arm Chair of Early Georgian Type; B, Square-back
Upholstered Chair of Queen Anne-Early Georgian Period.

ornamentation was added, at first on the edges and, last
of all, came the pierced splat (Fig. 7, A) in the process
of development.

Many of the earliest hoop-back chairs retain a high
carved or moulded cresting above the splat, a survival
of the high and elaborate cresting of "William and Mary
days (Fig. 6). But this cresting soon disappeared and
we find in its stead only a simple cockle shell (Key V,
10),. or else a hollowed space suggesting a head rest
(Fig. 4,^). _

Wing chairs had a comfortable flare (Key V, 4),

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 109

easy, flowing lines anti cabriole legs, for the most part
without stretchers. Some of the upholstered arm
chairs with wooden arms had backs that followed the
curving contour of side chairs. Arms were shaped and
flared (Fig. 4, .1) outward, the supports being broadly
chamfered and curved and attached to the sides of the
seat frame. In the rush bottomed arm chairs with
straight turned legs, the arm support was an extension
of the front leg.

Fig. 8. A, Pierced Splat-back Chair; B, American Rush-bottomed Colonial Chair of

Period with Dutch Feeling: C, Windsor Chair of Early Form.

By Courtesy of Mrs. H. Genet Taylor, Camden, N. J.; Col. William J. Youngs, Garden

City, L. I.; and James M. Townseud, Jr., Esq., Mill Neck, L. I.

Another type of chair had a broad square, or ap-
proximately square, upholstered seat and a square up-
holstered back (Fig. 7, B). The seat rail is covered
by the upholstery which comes close down to the tops of
the cabriole legs.

It must not be forgotten that the "Windsor chair
(Fig. 8, C) came into being during this period and has
retained undiminished popularity ever since. The

110 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

earliest forms had either straight plain legs spreading
outward or else simple cabriole legs with club feet.
Oftentimes a central rudely-pierced splat was intro-
duced into the back between the spindles (Fig. 8, C).
Fan backs and hoop backs, as we know them, in Windsor
chairs mark a later development (Chap XIV, Fig. 5).

The early Georgian or Hogarthian chair (Plate XI,
p. 126) is worthy of special notice on account of its
slightly different contour and proportions. In all the
Hogarthian pieces the curve of the cabriole is much less
flowing and all the proportions are seemingly heavier,
although a great deal of this feeling is produced by the
approximately straightened (Fig. 9) leg and the heavy
shoulder of the cabriole. The so-called Hogarthian
pieces constitute an interesting episode of design in
the Early Georgian period.

The variations from the typical Queen Anne shape
that came into evidence in the latter part of the Early
Georgian period really foreshadow Chippendale modes
and will be dealt with in that chapter. The decorated
types of Queen Anne and Early Georgian chairs were
substantially the same as the earlier type in contour
and the successive phases of ornamentation — eagles'
heads, lions, satyr-masques and cabochon-and-leaf — are
treated in the introduction to this chapter and in the
Section on Types of Decoration.

STOOLS

Stools continued in popular use during Queen
Anne's reign. Indeed people were so accustomed to
using them that they would have missed them sadly had
they suddenly been obliged to do without. There were
stools both long and short and they followed the styles

Queen anne and early Georgian in

prevalent in the chairs. The long stools often had
"squab" or loose cushions.

Forms and settles, as in the preceding period, con-
tinued to be made of oak in the country districts, where
they were extensively used and where manners of
living did not change as rapidly as in the cities.

SETTEES

The typical Queen Anne settee differed from the
William and Mary settee in that it had usually a per-
fectly straight slightly arched back, having got rid of
the double hoop. As a rule the back was also much
lower than the back of the William and Mary settee.
The legs were cabrioled. The arms flared outward and
were generally rolled over and stuffed. Sometimes they
were carried up at the back to form wings. The next
step in the progress of the settee was to have carved
arms padded with upholstery for elbow rests. Then
came carved and shaped arms without pads, and a back
following the general contour of the hooped chairs.
Last of all came the double chair back settee without
upholstery, save on the seat, which followed the lines
of chairs, and was in reality simply two chairs made
into one (Key V, 6).

DAY-BEDS

Day-beds continued in popular use during the Queen
Anne period and were made upon graceful lines similar
to the chairs and settees. They usually had three or
four cabriole legs to a side and rolled over or cabriole
shaped head rests.

BEDSTEADS

The bedsteads of Queen Anne's day and of all the
early part of the period called by her name had tall
slender, round, square or octagonal posts that bore

112 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

aloft a high tester. It was usually the case that posts,
tester, headboard and base were all upholstered or
strained with some sort of fine goods, velvet or the like,
and showed little or none of the woodwork, just as in
the preceding period. Bedsteads of the early Queen
Anne period are so rare that it has often been asked
what the people slept in. As a matter of fact, the
humbler classes . seem to have slept very largely in
truckle beds, the yeomanry and lesser gentry in the old
beds of a former day and only the wealthy indulged
in the extravagance of these magnifical upholstered
creations.

In early Georgian times it became again the fashion
to carve bedposts (Plate X, p. 120), and we find the
usual forms of ornamentation employed around the
lower part and foot, the upper part being merely
rounded or fluted. In the simpler bedsteads, the lower
part of the posts was often plainly squared with block
feet. Sometimes there were low headboards and some-
times not. Posts still towered to a great height. The
back posts were almost always plain, while the front
posts had more care bestowed on them. This was be-
cause the back posts were then wholly concealed by the
curtains. Occasionally ornate testers are found, but
more often only the tester frame, which was wholly
covered by valances and hangings. The surest indica-
tions of age in bedposts, so far as contour is concerned,
are great height and slenderness.

TABLES

Queen Anne's day was a time of small tables or
tables to be used at the side of a room. In the more
pretentious houses we have the gorgeously carved and

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e - ^

M 2 O

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 113

gilt structures with marble tops, but they were not
articles of common use. Gate tables, of course, con-
tinued to enjoy great popularity and were always made
in considerable numbers to supply a constant demand.
The tables of most general utility that seem to have
been used for dining tables, when gate tables were not
used, were the cabriole-legged, drop-leaf (Fig. 10)
tables with club feet or claw and ball feet and ogeed
aprons at the ends. They were ordinarily four or five
feet long and when the leaves were extended and the

Knee Omamenf

Fig. 9. Small Table of Hogarthian Lines.
By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne, Philadelphia.

legs, one at each end, pulled out to support them, six or
eight people could be accommodated very comfortably.
From about 1715 onward they were in common use for
dining purposes. There were also larger tables made
on the same principle with more legs for extension.

Tea tables of oblong shape had slender cabriole legs
and occasionally had a raised rim, while others had the
edges shaped with the accustomed ogee, cyma-curve
and semi-circle forms. The underframing was shaped
in the same way. Card tables with turn-over hinged
tops made their appearance. The corners were

114 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

" dished" to hold candlesticks and there were four
shallow oval wells for coins or chips. In some cases the
corners were blocked or rounded where the legs joined
the underframing. There were also circular tripod
tables later in the period. Small bedside tables or
work tables with shallow drawers were found, and some
of the "turned" tables with straight legs continued to
be made.

Fig. 10. Walnut Cabriole-Iegged, Drop-leaf Table, commonly used aa a Dining Table.
In the Possession of H. D. Eberlein, Esq.

Many of the sideboard and console tables with
marble tops were very sumptuous affairs with ornately
carved and gilt bases in which sphinxes, eagles, grif-
fins, human figures, animals, flowers and conventional
rococo ornament played a part.

CHESTS OF DRAWERS AND CHESTS

Chests of drawers continued to be made in two sec-
tions but the most usual form had but one section and
was low enough to use conveniently as a dressing stand.
They had usually three to five drawers. The chests in

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 115

two sections, though still made with the upper portion
slightly smaller than the lower, were practically dis-
placed in popular esteem by the highboy, which was a
far more graceful article of furniture. These double
chests of drawers, "tallboys" or chests on chests often
had the corners and bracket feet chamfered and the

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FiQ. 11. High Double Chest, with chamfered and fluted pilaster corners and straight

bracket feet.

chamfered edge delicately fluted. When the corners
were not chamfered they were frequently adorned with
fluted pilasters and carved capitals or, in later pieces,
with narrow fretted panels. The tops were sometimes
straight, sometimes surmounted with rounded broken
pediments formed from a hooded cornice centred in a

116 PEACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

graceful vase finial, with finials at corners to matcli,
or with pediments of other character in use at the pe-
riod (Fig. 15 ; Plate IX, p. 112) . The edges of drawers,
instead of being flush with the stiles and rails, frer
quently overlapped slightly and no half round mould-
ings or beads were used in such cases. The lower part
of these chests usually had three drawers and the upper
four, the topmost space being divided for two or three
small drawers. The ordinary low chests with a- lifting
lid (Fig. 12) were in constant use, but were not made to

Fig. 12. Queen Anne Low Chest with Drawers.
By Courtesy of Mr. A. F. C. Bateman, Philadelphia.

any great extent after about 1740. Some of these low
chests in the Colonies had movable bases and were
meant to be carried on the backs of sumpter mules and
horses. Such chests were also made to be set one on
top of another. These low chests, particularly in
America, were apt to have a till and a secret drawer
inside at one end and some of them had one or two
drawers at the bottom. For both chests of drawers
and chests straight bracket feet were customarily used,
although occasionally bun feet are found, as well as
chamfered bracket feet.

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 117
HIGHBOYS AND LOWBOYS

The age of Queen Anne is essentially an age of
graceful highboys and lowboys (Key IV, 1 and 3).
Fortunately they were made in great number and a
goodly percentage has come down uninjured to our own
day. They have four well proportioned cabriole legs
and the highboys are made, usually, in two sections
with either a straight top or a broken, scrolled or swan-
neck pediment to finish them (Fig. 15). Segmental
tops, also, are found but are not as common as the

Fia. 13. Lowboy with Shaped Apron and Pointed Club Feet.
By Courtesy of Col. William J. Youngs, Esq., Garden City, L. I.

others. The upper part is detachable from the lower,
so that the lower half may really be used as a lowboy
(Fig. 13). Both sections have drawers and usually are
ornamented with a cockle shell or sun ray motif on one
of the middle drawers or some modification of the
cockle shell. Of course lowboys were made separately
and used as dressing tables, but what is said of the lower
part of highboys applies equally to lowboys. In one
type of highboy the lower section had two long drawers
or the equivalent in smaller drawers. The apron was

118 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

comparatively straight and only relieved by some pen-
dant-like shape with small cyma curves (Fig. 13). The
other type had one deep drawer or two shallow drawers
at each side with a shallow drawer in the centre and
the apron was much more shaped and ogeed with cyma

Fig. 14. Typical Outline of Shaped Queen Anne Apron.

curves (Key IV, 3). Sometimes the straight topped
highboys were surmounted by a pyramid of graduated
steps for the display of bric-a-brac.

CABINETS

During much of the period elaborately carved and
gilt stands (Fig. 3) continued to be made for lacquer
cabinets. Also high stands of simple lines, not gilt,
were considerably used for the same purpose. Besides
these there were cabinets with chests of drawers in the
lower part and the upper part closed, with two doors
which, being opened, revealed tiers of small drawers for
curios. Some of the cabinets had glass doors and
shelves for rare china. The tops were straight, as a
rule, and the contour was generally the same as that of
high double chests. Lastly, there were cabinets with
drawers below, either straight or kettle-fronted, double
glass doors above and shelves for the display of china
and shaped tops. They belonged early in the period.

BOOKCASES

The age of Queen Anne was not a period of numer-
ous books in the average house, but in the latter part

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 119

of the Early Georgian era bookcases were made to some
extent independently of the secretary or bureau book-
cases. They ordinarily had two panelled doors in the
lower part and glass doors above. In details of struc-
ture and ornamentation they followed the other large
cabinet work of the period.

SECRETARIES OR BUREAU BOOKCASES

There was considerable variety in the writing fur-
niture of the period. First of all, there was the bureau
bookcase (Plate IX, p. 112, and Key IV, 2), almost iden-
tical with the type found at the end of the preceding
period. This was slightly varied by the form with
straight or scrolled broken pediment tops and rectan-
gular panelled doors, and occasionally the addition of
fluted pilasters at the corners (Fig. 11). Still a third
variety had the slant-top desk portion supported on
cabriole legs with the upper bookcase or cabinet super-
structure like those in the preceding types. There were
also slant-top desks with drawers below but without a
cabinet section above and slant-top desks (small) sup-
ported on cabriole legs. A slightly later form had slant
top, three drawers below and short cabriole legs (Key
V, 9). Towards the end of the period there were writ-
ing or library tables with tiers of drawers at each side
extending to the floor and the central part open for the
legs of the sitter.

CUPBOARDS

Cupboards, three-cornered (Plate VIII, p. 102) and
straight, were favourite pieces of furniture and received
much attention in the way of ornamentation. There

120 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

were also hanging corner cupboards. In comer cup-
boards the doors were sometimes circular fronted, so
that the whole piece of furniture filled a quarter circle
(Plate IX, p. 112). Tops of cupboards of all varieties
were both straight and shaped (see Fig. 15) . Plate IX,
p. 112, shows a good example of what was known as
"architects' furniture," large pieces designed with a
distinctly architectural feeling. This tendency to ar-
chitectural detail was noticeable in much of the large
cabinet work. Broken and scroll pediments as well as

Fia. 15. Typical Forms of Interrupted Hoods or Broken Curved Pediments.

straight pediments also occur (Fig. 15). A division
is ordinarily made between the upper and lower sec-
tions, the lower having a door or doors with a drawer
above and the upper having only a door or doors of
taller dimension. The upper portion was often glazed
with square panes.

BUFFETS AND DRESSERS

Long buffets or dressers were made with the char-
acteristic cabriole legs, club feet and shaped aprons
They were made both without and with an upper part
contammg open shallow shelves for platters and plate

E.UiLY GEORGIAN .MAHOGANY BEDSTEAD

By Courtesy of Richard A Canfield, Esq., New York City

PLATE X

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 121

(see Fig. 16), and the lower part contained drawers.
They were not infrequently of oak banded with king-

Fia. 16. Dresser of Typical Queen Anne Form.
By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne, Philadelphia.

wood or rosewood. Sideboard tables (see Tables)
with marble tops were largely used in dining-rooms.

MIRRORS

The shape of the typical Queen Anne mirror is that
illustrated in Figure 17. Both large and small had
broad ovolo moulded frames shaped with the double
cyma motif at the top. In the tall mirrors the glass was
usually in two sections and bevelled, the upper piece
overlapping the lower without wooden moulding to
mark the boundary. Mirrors of this shape were often
highly carved and gilt. Small mirrors of much this

122 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

same shape were supported between uprights on little
stands of drawers that were set on tops of dressing
tables or single chests of drawers. Another type of
mirror was slightly later and showed distinct traces of
architectural feeling, being surmounted with a pedi-
ment, broken or unbroken, having "dog-ear" trims at

Fia. 17. Mirror in Blark Frame with Gilt Lines. Brought to Philadelpliia in 1711.
By Courtesy of Misa Susan Matlack Carpenter, Camden, N. J.

the upper outside corners and displaying much gilded
ornament along with the well chosen walnut. This
type was really Early Georgian rather than Queen
Anne.

GUERIDONS OR PEDESTALS

These pieces of furniture for holding candelabra
were found in the houses of the wealthy and were elab-
orately carved and gilt, but occasionally examples are

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 123

found of plain wood and usually in forms suggesting
survivals of type from the preceding period.

CLOCKS

The tall-case clocks and bracket clocks of the
Queen Anne period at the beginning closely resembled
those of the former reign. Brass dials were still in
general use. Tops were straight, rectangular, ogival
domed with brass ball or vase ornaments at summit and
front corners, or single arched like the old William
and Mary hood.

MATERIALS

Walnut. The wood of chief importance in this
period is walnut, used both solid and as a veneer. The
native English walnut of Queen Anne days is some-
what lighter in colour than the imported walnut, exten-
sively used in earlier times, a good deal of which came
from Holland and France. There was a plentiful sup-
ply of excellent walnut in America, especially in Penn-
sylvania, and it was used here from the first.

Oak. Notwithstanding the overwhelming popu-
larity of walnut, oak was still used to some degree by
chair and cabinet makers, particularly in rural districts
in England. It was not used to any considerable extent
in America.

Mahogany. Although Sir Walter Ealeigh is cred-
ited with the introduction of mahogany into England,
it was very rarely and sparingly employed in English
furniture making till the early part of the eighteenth
century. From about 1720 onward it was extensively
used, though it did not wholly supersede walnut in
public favour till many years afterward. Its use be-
gan in the American Colonies about the same time or

124 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

perhaps slightly earlier. We have records of some
Philadelphia mahogany furniture that was made a few
years prior to the foregoing date. There is at least one
well authenticated piece of mahogany in the State of
New York, the gate dining table in the Van Cortlandt
Manor House at Croton-on-Hudson, that was brought
here from Holland in 1638. Doubtless there are other
pieces of Dutch origin in America dating from approxi-
mately the same time.

Pine, Limb and Chestnut. These woods were used
for elaborate carving that was to be covered with gilt.
They were also used as groundwork to be veneered and
lacquered in the same way as oak.

Peae, Beech, Elm and Yew. These woods were
used in much the same way as pine and were largely em-
ployed by country joiners.

Makquetebie Woods. Various woods such as those
enumerated in previous chapters were used for mar-
queterie and inlays.

Upholsteey. Damasks, brocades, velvets and
needlework in "petit-point" were used as furniture
coverings for the more expensive and elegant articles.
Chintz was used for less pretentious requirements.

Maeble. Marble was employed for the tops of
heavy gilt console or sideboard tables.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

As in the preceding reign, the decorative processes
embraced turning, carving, painting, gilding, veneering,
marqueterie, inlay and lacquering.

TuENiNG. The turning of the Queen Anne-Early
Georgian period, though not obtrusively ornate, was
thoroughly well done, as a look at chair and table legs
and stretchers will show.

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 125

Carving. Beyond the favourite cockle or escallop
shell and the slight embellishment of knees, ear-pieces,
and feet, carving was not largely practised on chairs,
tables and general cabinet work of the early years of
this period. Mirror frames, however, and the elabo-
rately carved and gilt console and sideboard tables con-
stituted a conspicuous exception. During the latter
part of the period, beginning with the "Decorated
Queen Anne" epoch, which came in about 1714, elab-
orate carving is found on chairs and tables and occa-
sionally on cabinet work. It is notable for its bold and
vigorous execution. Until the "cabochon-and-leaf"
epoch, the carving is apt to be in strong relief.

Painting. Furniture was sometimes painted white
or perhaps another colour and parcel gilt. Large pieces
of architectural furniture so treated were often very
effective.

Gilding. Gilding was applied as a coating to wood
elaborately carved and carefully prepared. It was also
used to pick out and embellish portions of carving or
turning on walnut and mahogany furniture (Key V, 4) .

Veneeeing. Veneering was used for its rich, warm
effects on flat surfaces of cabinet work and in the splats
of fiddle-back chairs until supplanted by the ascendency
of mahogany. It was often effectively employed on
drawer fronts and in panels while the rails and stiles
were solid. It was even used in conjunction with carv-
ing on the splats of chair backs.

Maequbteeib and Inlay. Though these processes
were still practised to some extent in the first half of
the period, the taste for them was gradually dying out.

Lacqueb. Having passed the stage of being a fash-
ionable fad, lacquer held its ground on its own intrinsic

126 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PliiKlOD FURNITURE

merits as a valuable decorative factor. We find many-
beautiful examples both in black and in colours — red,
green, blue and yellow. It was sometimes, however,
grievously misapplied.

TYPES OF DECORATION

TuENiNG displayed no particularly distinctive
forms. The occasionally somewhat intricate turned
forms of the preceding William and Mary period went
quite out of fashion. Vase, ball and ring turning and
baluster turning remained in style.

Cabving in the earlier part of the period was con-
fined largely to representations of the escallop or cockle
shell ornamerit to be found on the cresting of chair
backs, in the central part of the seat rail and on knees
of highboys and lowboys as well as on the knees of
many of the fiddle-back chairs. The escallop shell was
also found as a central decorative motif on the drawers
of highboys and on the aprons of various pieces of
cabinet work. Both convex and concave forms appear.
Pendent fuchsia flowers and honeysuckles are met with
occasionally in conjunction with cockle shells, especially
on the knees and upper portions of the legs of some of
the fiddle-backed chairs. When cabriole legs did not
terminate in hoof and ball, club, web or slipper f eetlfchey
were ordinarily carved with claw and ball and the work
was wrought with more boldness and precision than was
customarily the case at a later date.

One exception to this early simplicity in the matter
of carving is to be noted in the case of the ornate gilt
console and side tables and some of the mirror frames
upon which a wealth of painstaking detail was lavished.
Animals, birds and human figures (Fig. 3), boldly

HOGARTHIAN HOOPBACK, PIERCED

SPLAT MAHOGANY CHAIR

By Courtesy of Mr. C. J. Dearden, New

York City

STRAIGHT TOP UPHOLSTERED QUEEN ANNE SETTEE

By Courtesy of Messrs. E. J. Holmes & Co., Philadelphia

PLATE XI

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 127

carved in the round supported these tables, while the
framing and other parts displayed successions of evo-
lutes, drops and swags and sundry classic repetitive
details.

With the incipience of the "decorated Queen Anne"
style about 1714: we find a great elaboration of carving,
particularly upon chairs and settees, whose arms were
frequently terminated with eagles ' heads strongly exe-
cuted. Besides eagles' heads, rosettes, tassels, acan-
thus and sundry floriated scrolls were introduced as
opportunity offered.

With the beginning of the ' ' lion period, ' ' about 1720,
vigorously wrought lions' heads and feet in the form
of furred paws were added to the list of carving details
and are valuable indications of approximate date.

The ' ' satyr-masque period, ' ' beginning about 1730,
intensified the grotesque element in carving and, as
the name indicates, brought in the satyr masque in va-
rious forms which appeared on the knees, seat rails,
backs and arms of chairs and settees, the cresting of
cabinet work and the framing of tables where erstwhile
had been cockles, then eagles' heads and then lions'
heads, which the satyrs supplanted in great measure.
During all these sub-periods the cockle shell persisted
with singular vitality and varying degrees of popu-
larity.

By 1735, when the " cabochon-and-leaf period" may
be said to have begun, we find this motif, either in con-
cave or convex form, borrowed from the cabinet makers
of the court of Louise Quinze, just as the lions ' heads
and satyr masques had been borrowed from Grerman de-
signs, becoming immensely popular at the expense of
motifs that had hitherto enjoyed great vogue.

128 PRACTICAL BOOK OF ¥ii,RiUL> iUKJ\lTU±ti!J

Mabqtjeterie and Inlay were both going so rapidly
out of fashion that no new decorative types were devel-
oped. For what little ornamentation of this sort was
practised at the very beginning of the period, William
and Mary designs were made to serve.

Lacquer types of decoration experienced a change.
Before the time of Queen Anne, the chief and best ex-
amples of lacquer were to be found in the cabinets
which ordinarily stood upon gorgeously carved and
gilt stands. These cabinets were for the most part
decorated with bold sprays and branches of trees and
shrubs, with here and there human forms, animals,
birds or fish.

In the early years after the accession of Queen
Anne, the fashion changed. Lacquer was applied to
everything — chairs, tables, cabinets, highboys, secre-
taries and cupboards. The patterns became more
strongly pictorial and often closely resembled the de-
signs of landscapes, houses, gardens, people and bridges
to be seen on old platters and plates.

STRUCTURE

By the beginning of the Queen Anne period the cur-
vilinear element had become firmly established in Eng-
lish furniture making. Chair seats displayed simple
and compound curving outlines; kettle or swell front
china cupboards or curio cases and chests of drawers
testified to the skill of the cabinet maker; segmental
and swan-neck pediments soared towards the ceiling;
the graceful cyma curves, single or in combination, lent
a fascinating charm to panels, doorheads and mirrors.
With the increasing height of the ceilings, cabinet work
assumed taller proportions. By the beginning of the

QUEEN ANNE AND EARLY GEORGIAN 129

eighteenth century, chair and cabinet makers had
learned to work more skilfully in walnut, and the furni-
ture they shaped was lighter and more graceful than
the product of the preceding period. Furniture was
made of walnut throughout and the practise was grad-
ually abandoned of veneering walnut on oak, although
it was still done where an especially fine burred effect
was desired in panels, doors or drawers. Stretchers
also went out of common use early in the period.

MOUNTS

The elaborate pierced and chased mounts of the
lacquer cabinets of the William and Mary period and
the other varied and somewhat ornate key-plates,
scutcheons and knobs went out of style in Queen Anne's
time and were replaced by plainer brass work. Handles
were usually of the bail pattern and scutcheons were
sometimes plain, sometimes pierced and sometimes
slightly chased. Oval key-plates were also found.

FINISH

What was said under the head of Finish in the
WUliam and Mary chapter applies with equal force to
the furniture made during the Queen Anne-Early
Georgian period.

The oak furniture that continued to be made for
cottages and farmhouses was usually given the tradi-
tional finish of oil and wax, although, no doubt, occa-
sionally oak pieces received a dressing of the varnish
made with gum shellac and alcohol that became popular
at the end of the seventeenth century.

Walnut furniture, though sometimes oiled and
waxed, was ordinarily finished with the shellac and al-

130 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

cohol varnish, brushed on, without previous oiling, and
polished with wax, or else was treated with one of the
other varnishes that seem to have come into vogue
under the influence of the great popularity enjoyed by
the various kinds of Isiequered and Japanned ware. For
full particulars concerning the making and use of these
varnishes the reader may consult the "Treatise of
Japaning and Varnishing" by John Stalker and G-eorge
Parker, published at Oxford in 1688.

Mahogany, during this period, was given the same
finish as that just described for walnut furniture.

CHAPTER V

LOUIS QUATORZE AND LOUIS QUINZE
Louis XIV 1643-1715

Louis XV 1715-1774

""^"^7'HAT France thinks to-day the rest of
Europe will think to-morrow." This dic-
tum was uttered a good many years ago.
It was largely true then and has been so ever since.
Furniture styles were included in this most compre-
hensive category, and quite properly so, for France set
mobiliary fashions every whit as much as she did the
fashions for wearing apparel.

England, despite her insular position, in no wise
escaped the pervading French influence. From the
Jacobean period — the first with which we are concerned
in this volume — down to our own day, the French touch
in the styles of English furniture has been manifest in
one form or another and in greater or less degree ac-
cording to circumstances. Sometimes the French ten-
dencies suffered a temporary eclipse, as in the William
and Mary period, when Dutch ascendency was at its
height.

Even then, however, French textile workers, domi-
ciled in England, designed and wove the gorgeous
fabrics that helped to make that multi-coloured epoch
of furniture one of the most dazzlingly brilliant in
English history and infused a goodly share of their
native grace and intuitive artistic feeling into the pro-
duct of their looms.

131

132 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FUKJNiTUKli;

Again, at times, we find French feeling strongly in
evidence, as in much of Chippendale's work or the de-
signs of Sheraton, and sometimes, indeed, it dominates
the whole field, carrying all before it as it did in the
Empire period. Occasionally French forms were de-
liberately copied, as we shall see in some of Chippen-
dale's choicest pieces, but usually the Gallic bias was
partially disguised under a shell of English adaptation
— a French voice speaking out of an English body.

The practical result of this influence will be shown
in the following chapters, and the subject is greatly
clarified by the present survey in its proper chrono-
logical relation to English adaptations of Gallic forms
and motifs.

These English adaptations might be passing good
or villainously bad. It depended entirely on the indi-
vidual skill and taste of the adapter. All the same, let
the expression of the moment be what it might, the
French leaven was there and working.

What was true of English furniture was, of course,
true of American furniture in Colonial and post-Colo-
nial times. In fact, in the early part of the nineteenth
century, our great grandparents went to even greater
lengths in their homage to French taste than ever their
British cousins did, owing, doubtless, to the active sym-
pathy of France in the struggle for American Inde-
pendence and the subsequent visit of the popular La
Fayette.

The long enduring Louis Quatorze and Louis Quinze
periods, rich in varied furniture developments, wrought
such marked results in the form and adornment of
English cabinet work and chair making that we must
know somewhat of the general characteristics of each

LOUIS QUATORZE AND LOUIS QUINZE 133

style if we would really understand the course of evo-
lution on British soil.

When Louis XIV was delivered from the narrow
bondage, under which his early years were spent, his
mind was firmly set to be absolute master of his king-
dom and rule right royally. Now that the gloomy re-
straint of severe tutors and the parsimonious manage-
ment of Mazarin were things of the past, the pendulum
swung to the opposite extreme and the young monarch
burst forth into a reign of unparalleled and magnificent
extravagances. Efficient ministers, who supplied the
enormous sums necessary, ably served him in his efforts
to glorify his court and all its appointments. The
greatest artists and craftsmen France could produce
vied with each other in executing his princely plans.

Colbert's scheme of quartering them in the Louvre
and giving them constant occupation worked well both
for the sake of economy and the amount of work actually
achieved by their systematic employment in the palace
studios. The furniture they designed and made was
sumptuous in the extreme and, along with the other
equipments of the royal households, contributed not a
little to Louis's title to his sobriquet "the Sun King."

Li all the splendour of his long reign of gorgeous
pomp and pompous gorgeousness there was, never-
theless, a distinct touch of severity. With all the gold
and glitter and wealth of living colour there was a feel-
ing of austere and rigid formality that the profusion
of elaborate ornament tended, perhaps, to enhance
rather than mollify; and when death removed "Le
Grand Monarque" from a nation deeply thankful for
the deliverance, both court and people were ready for
a new style, dominated by a note of softer grace.

134 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

The style of the Eegence voices a new influence.
Thence onward furniture and decorations were in
lighter vein. With a new generation of artists and
craftsmen, imbued with new conceptions, ready, when
he took the reins of government into his own hands, to
do the bidding of the Fifteenth Louis and carry out the
programme of lavish expenditure inspired by Madame
de Pompadour, French furniture fell into a riot of be-
wildering variety.

During the Louis Quinze period we find more diver-
sity and flexibility of style than in the preceding reign.
The process of evolution works more rapidly. Through
all the forms, however, the curvilinear principle is
plainly dominant in contrast to the Louis Quatorze fur-
niture in which the principle is rectilinear despite the
abundance of ornate embellishment.

In this important respect the change that took place
between the mobiliary styles of the Louis Quatorze and
Louis Quinze periods is analogous to the change that
took place in England between the end of the Jacobean
or Stuart period and the early years of Queen Anne's
reign.

ARTICLES

Space forbids and there is no necessity that we
should enter into a detailed catalogue of aU the articles
of furniture used in the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis
XV. It will serve the present purpose and sufficiently
amplify the principal characteristics of style — particu-
larly the characteristics that visibly influenced English
furniture — ^if we enumerate the chief objects.

The list includes chairs, stools, or tabourets, canapes
or sofas, bedsteads, tables, consoles, cabinets, com-

LOUIS QUATORZE AND LOUIS QUINZE 135

modes, armoires, bureaux or escritoires, torcheres,
mirrors and clocks. Besides these there were all kinds
of meubles de luxe.

CONTOUR

The kernel of the whole matter is reached by saying
that in Louis Quatorze furniture the structural lines
were almost invariably perpendicular or horizontal —
in other words, rectilinear — ^while in furniture of the
Louis Quinze period the cabinet-makers apparently pre-
ferred to curve their structural lines.

There were, to be sure, the usual overlappings be-
tween the latter years of one regime and the former
years of the other. We find furniture with cabriole
legs and curving lines appearing before the end of
Louis the Fourteenth's reign and we also find cabinet
work of rectilinear structure made long after the be-
ginning of his successor 's.

The homhe or swelling fronts of commodes and
garderobes, however, the cabrioled legs and serpentine
tops of tables and consoles and the general scrolled
treatment that went with the Eococo phase of ornamen-
tation, which flourished exuberantly in this period, were
unmistakably characteristic of the Louis Quinze style
and more strongly than aught else bespake the con-
structional change from the methods of the Louis
Quatorze epoch, when cabinet work frequently had a
tall, perpendicular aspect.

CHAIRS

Louis XrV. All the chairs of this period were in-
stinct with dignity. In the earlier part they were often
pompous and stiff as well, while in later years grace
and comfort were characteristics more in evidence.

136 PRACTICAL BOUii UJ<' I'JUKIUJJ iUKJNlTUiiE

Legs at first were often straight, carved and moulded
and joined by straight X or saltire stretchers, likewise
elaborately carved and moulded (Plate XII, p. 136).
About the end of the seventeenth century a graceful
cabriole form appears, sometimes with a more pro-
nounced curve than at others. The proportions were
well moulded and the foot was not seldom either a scroll
resembling a dolphin's head or cloven hoof or pied de

Fia. 1. Louis Quinze Arm Chair.
By Courtesy of Mr. R. W. Lehne, Philadelphia.

biche-{Plaie XII, p. 136). Some of the chairs were made
without stretchers while many, on the other hand, had
flat serpentine stretchers of the same general type we
have seen in William and Mary chairs and settees. The
knee of the cabriole was ordinarily adorned with some
sort of shell, leaf or cabochon motif and sometimes
pendent husks extended part way down the leg. Seat
rails were both shaped and carved or straight, in which
latter case the upholstery frequently came to the lower

LOUIS QUATORZE AND LOUIS QUINZE 137

edge of the rail so that it was not seen. Seats, backs
and arms were both caned and upholstered. Seats were
broad and approximately square with a slight taper
towards the back. Backs had considerable rake. Arms
were long and nearly horizontal, followed the straight
line of the seat side, and flared only slightly at the ends.
Upholstered backs were broad and square, or slightly
flared at the crest ; and the tops were straight ; carved
or moulded tops were curved and arched a little in the
middle.

Louis XV. We first have the Eegence chairs with
an agreeable combination of straight lines and curves
and tasteful but restrained ornament. Then as the
years advance the Eococo influence increases. Cabriole
legs assume stronger curves, scrolled leaf or dolphin-
head feet in endless variety take the plaCe of the pied
de biche, stretchers disappear. Seat rails are shaped
and waved in many curves and elaborately carved as
well as the legs, arms and framing of the back. Seats
are broad and approximately square tapering toward
the back. Arms are short, flaring, and the supports,
which are sharply curved, join the seat rail well back
from the front legs. Backs are broad, and the framing,
much carved, is broken into many curves and slightly
arched at the top (Fig. 1 ; Plate XIII, p. 142).

STOOLS OR TABOURETS

These articles of small furniture followed the same
general styles Of contour and ornament as were exem-
plified in the chairs.

CANAP]^S OR SOFAS

The same may be said of canapes or sofas. The
chair of the period was the index of style.

138 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

BEDSTEADS

Louis XIV. As one might expect, in a period of
great magnificence, the bedsteads were imposing pieces
of furniture with highly ornate posts, testers and cur-
tains. The general rectilinear contour was preserved,
softened by carved amenities of decoration.

Louis XV. Bedsteads were less ponderous, posts
and testers were largely abandoned for impressively
draped and towering canopies over the bedhead.

TABLES

Louis XIV. Under Louis XIV tables preserved a
generally rectangular outline as to the tops. Legs were
straight, often being square and tapered towards the
foot, and were braced with saltire stretchers, or the
legs were cabrioled and carved and joined by rising
saltire stretchers.

Louis XV. Fancifully shaped, oval and serpentine
tops came into vogue, and legs, like chair legs, exhibited
more pronounced curves.

CONSOLES, CABINETS AND COMMODES

Louis XIV. These three articles of close kinship
played a conspicuous part in the formal furnishings
of these two successive periods. Variations of shape
and detail were almost innumerable, but under Louis
XIV the principle of rectangularity persisted. Legs
were straight and tapered or only slightly curved, and
even where moderately b onjJied-f ronts to drawers and
cabinet fronts or circular fronts were introduced the
igeneral rectilinear character of the carcase was evi-
dent. This was true especially with reference to the
taller pieces of cabinet work.

LOUIS QUATORZE AND LOUIS QUINZE 139

LoTJis XV. In the greater part of this period full
play was given to the propensity for curving lines, so
much so that in some pieces it is well nigh impossible to
find a single straight line except the top, which was
meant for a support for other objects. Bombe and
serpentine or circular fronts for commodes and cab-
inets were the invariable rule. These commodes and
cabinets had cabriole legs and the carcases rarely ex-
tended to the floor.

AEMOIRES

Louis XIV. Armoires or cupboards had panelled
doors in which it is significant that the heads displayed
a semicircle, treated like the William and Mary hood
motif or some modification and adaptation of the cyma
curve.

Louis XV. Bombe fronts and Eococo scrolls were
so rampant that panel forms were somewhat obscured,
but the arched and curved heads continued — ^modified
of course — as a base for elaboration.

BUREAUX OR ESCRITOIRES

The writing furniture of both periods followed dom-
inant characteristics of contour and detail. The high
bureaux were not as popular as the low escritoires, upon
which great pains and care were often lavished.

TORCHERES AND MIRRORS

Torcheres or gueridons and mirrors may be con-
sidered together, as they so often composed a decora-
tive unit. The lines of the former and the frames of
the latter faithfully reflected the prevailing modes of
the moment, whether Louis Quatorze, Eegence or
Eococo.

140 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

CLOCKS

The French clocks rarely reached the dimensions of
the English tall-case clocks. In all representative cases
under Louis XIV the dignified rectilinear or tapering
lines appeared. Under Louis XV shapes and orna-
mentation were both apt to be fantastic.

MATERIALS

Oak. Oak was used for carved panelling and also
for some of the larger carved cabinet work.

Walnut. "Walnut was used both solid and for
veneer.

Mahogany. Mahogany was employed more in the
reign of Louis XV than before.

Veneer and Inlay Woods. Box, violetwood, labur-
num, kingwood, holly, sycamore, and many others,
were used for inlays, veneer and marqueterie.

Ebony. Ebony was used for some of his finest crea-
tions by Boulle and his imitators.

ToETOisESHELL. BouUc used tortoiseshell exten-
sively as a veneer into which he set his metal inlay.

Brass and White Metal. Used as an inlay in a
wood ground.

Upholstery. The richest materials were used for
upholstering chairs, stools and sofas, which were often
protected by slip covers.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

Nearly every decorative process imaginable was
employed by the furniture makers of the Louis
Quatorze and Louis Quinze periods. The following
were the most usual.

Carving. Carving both in the round and in relief

LOUIS QUATORZE AND LOUIS QUINZE 141

was employed with hard woods and also with soft woods
that were to be painted and gilt.

Inlay. Intricate inlay of an immense variety of
woods was highly popular.

Marqueteeie. Marqueterie was much used and was
frequently of a more pictorial and connected character
than either English or Dutch work of the same kind.

Veneeb. The art of veneering was largely prac-
tised.

Gilding. Both gilding and parcel gilding enjoyed
continuous vogue for the enrichment of furniture.

Painting. Painting framework in monotint to be
enlivened by gilding, or painting panels, or running
designs, were methods of decoration often resorted to
successfully.

TuENiNG. The standard importance of turning
was overshadowed by the wealth of other elaborate and
brilliant processes for the decoration of furniture.

Lacquer. Lacquering was a favourite decorative
process extensively practised. Its long continued
popularity and the experiments of the French lacquer
makers eventually led to the production of the famous
Vernis-Martin in the reign of Louis XV. A fuller
notice of the Vernis-Martin work occurs in the chapter
on "Painted Furniture."

BouLLB "WoEK. This is the name applied to the
famous decorative process of metal and tortoiseshell
inlay elaborated by the ingenious craftsman BouUe in
the reign of Louis XIV. BouUe had many imitators
but his name has always been attached to the process,
nevertheless, though at times one sees it in the cor-
rupted form "buhl," a spelling which has no justifi-
cation.

142 PRACTICAL BUUK Ub' ft^KLUU avtii^llViiH.

The process consisted of veneering a suitably pre-
pared and coloured surface of wood with a coat of
transparent tortoiseshell. This shell veneer was fur-
ther adorned with an inlay of delicate and elaborate
metal tracery. As an alternative to this inlay of metal
on a shell ground, and from motives of economy to pre-
vent a waste of precious material, the reverse of this
process was often practised, that is, an inlay of tortoise-
shell in a metal ground. This was called Counter-
BouUe.

TYPES OF DECORATION

Of all the manifold types of decoration employed in
these two periods, the one we most frequently hear of
is Eococo ornament, though its excess of sinuosity was
by no means of universal application to the exclusion
of all else.

Eococo Oenament. The word "rococo" comes
from the French "roc" and "coquille," which could be
literally translated into English by the expression
"rock cockle" and be very accurate. The term arose
from the passion that existed during a portion of the
Louis Quinze period for employing rocks and shells
along with wisps of nondescript foliage carved with be-
wildering scrolls in every conceivable place and in every
conceivable variety of shape, as the prevailing details
of ornamentation. It was a formalised expression of a
Eenaissance conception of rusticity.

"Abcadian Propeeties." This happy phrase of
Mr. Foley's denoted the miscellaneous collection of
wreaths, cupids, female busts, satyrs, fountains and
doves with which so much of the Louis Quatorze and
Louis Quinze furniture was plentifully bedecked.

DiAPEEwoEK was largely used to fill plain surfaces

LOUIS QUATORZE AND LOUIS QUINZE 143

of panels and the like during a part of the Louis XIV
period and was applied with excellent and varied deco-
rative effect.

Acanthus leaves, as they seem to have been in
nearly every age^ were a decorative necessity and were
employed for foliage effects.

Fbtjits and Flo wees also formed important items in
the cataloguing of available motifs of embellishment.

Pendent Husks and Eibbons likewise filled a useful
place in the scheme of adornment, as did also, to some
extent, trophies of various sorts, and musical instru-
ments.

STRUCTURE

In the time of Louis XIV the royal workshops, as
we have said, were in the Louvre, and no pains were
spared to turn out the best possible work. The joinery
was of a high degree of excellence, and we find the
same tradition prevailing in the succeeding period.

MOUNTS

In the furniture of these periods metal mounts were
used not merely for necessary purposes of utility such
as knobs, drawer pulls, hinges, key-plates, scutcheons
and the like, but were employed extensively for purely
decorative purposes. Brass ormolu and other metal
mounts were designed with the greatest care, and their
execution formed an important craft. There was end-
less variety in their design, so that it is not feasible
to illustrate any special type. The designs were made
to accord with the general scheme of decorative motifs
used for the special piece, and much dependence was
placed on the mounts to produce the charm of the object
to which they were attached.

CHAPTER VI

CHIPPENDALE
c. 1705—1779

THOMAS CHIPPENDALE lias been called
"The Most Famous of English Cabinet-
Makers. ' ' This title to distinction few will dis-
pute. There can be no doubt, at any rate, that, either by
a favouring combination of circumstances or the force
of his personality, or both, the sound of his name has
become so familiarly associated with tables and chairs
and chests, and all other sorts of household equipment,
that many people attribute everything produced by
cabinet-makers during the eighteenth century to his
pervading and versatile genius.

It was Whistler's just boast that he "carried on
the tradition." He worked in the manner of the great
masters before him, his own individuality being suflB-
ciently strong to add all the "originality" that was
needed. Such was also the case with another great
master of art — Thomas Chippendale. He did not find
it necessary to invent, but, basing his work upon the
authentic forms of the mobiliary craft, he added to
every style, from which he drew, the noble English
qualities of sturdiness accompanied with grace, wonder-
ful craftsmanship, and homelike character.

With his astounding versatility it might be said
that he commandeered existing styles and wrought each
to his own use. Beginning his labours in the Early
Georgian period, he subtracted from the current style

144

CHIPPENDALE 145

the heaviness derived from the Dutch and, preserving
all its excellent qualities, gave it grace and charm. At
the opposite pole it seems he could be as florid as any
of the craftsmen of Louis Quinze and yet, if that wbrk
be examined in connexion with his, it will be found that
in some way he has eliminated its "flightiness" and
has given it dignity and rest. If anything could be
more exotic to Western art than that of China it has
still to be discovered, and yet, Thomas Chippendale took
of its features and made furniture which accompanied
other English pieces without undue incongruity. He
drew upon the Gothic — and his drafts were honoured.
He was not of course always equally successful — ^no
man is — ^but his failures were few and his achievements
glorious. As a carver he was without a peer. Classic
art would seem to be the farthest removed from his
sympathies — ^he was a lover of the flowing line — and
yet some of the bookcases, desks and wardrobes
pictured in his own book are classic in their severe
simplicity, and when old age was approaching with its
perhaps fabled inability to change, he took up, with
the verve of youth, the commissions of the classicist
Eobert Adam and carried out his designs. He who
had depended upon carving for his ornament, in this
connexion with Adam did inlaying which through all
the years was credited to Hepplewhite untU documen-
tary evidence proved it the work of the crowning glory
of English Furniture makers — Thomas Chippendale.
Besides his skill and taste as a cabinet-maker, and
his fortunate judgment in adapting varied and sundry
styles to the needs and wishes of his British patrons,
Chippendale was a good business man and thoroughly
understood the art of advertising as then practised,

146 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

the art, at least, of making himself liked, and attract-
ing a large and fashionable clientele — and an habitual
clientele, at that— to his shop in St. Martin's Lane.
The belles and beaux, as well as the great lords and
haughty, swelling dowagers, were wont to gather there
of a morning, and were sure of getting what they
sought, no matter whether it was furniture or gossip.
Chippendale always made his patrons thoroughly wel-
come and comfortable, and his shop became, to all
intents, a kind of club where all the Court chit-chat and
scandal of the metropolis were retailed amid the engag-
ing settings of chairs "in the Gro thick taste," "Chinese
Sophas, ' ' Louis Quinze secretaries, and the like.

It was Chippendale who first injected the element
of personality into cabinet-making, and attached his
name inseparably to the output of his workrooms.
This he succeeded in doing, partly through his clever
faculty of advertising his wares, in creating a vogue
for his productions, partly by being the first to publish
any considerable and reliable book of furniture de-
signs— a book, by the way, that had the advantage of
a long list of subscribers. Before his time, the work
of the cabinet-maker as an individual craftsman re-
ceived little attention beyond a limited circle of cus-
tomers. What was made was set down as belonging
to a certain style, and the joiner's name was not heard,
or, if heard, was instantly forgotten as of no moment.
From Chippendale's time onward, however, it became
the fashion for popular and prosperous cabinet-makers
to publish books of their designs, and call the special
styles they had originated or fostered after their own
names.

The materials for Chippendale's biography are ex-

CHIPPENDALE 147

tremely scarce, but we do know that lie was born early
in the eighteenth century, and that he was the son of
Thomas Chippendale, a wood-carver and cabinet-maker
of some repute in Worcester. It has even been su,g-
gested that the father was responsible for several of
the forms that afterward became characteristic of his
son's production, but of that we can only make con-
jectures. By 1727, both the father and the son had
established themselves in London. In 1749, Thomas
the second, "The Chippendale," opened a shop in Con-
duit Street, Long Acre.

Thence he removed, in 1753,- to No. 60 St. Martin's
Lane, which, with the three adjoining houses, he con-
tinued to occupy for the rest of his life. This was the
shop that became a fashionable lounging-place, and
here were manufactured and retailed both furniture
and gossip. It was in 1754, not long after his removal
to the house in St. Martin's Lane, that Chippendale
published the book by which not a little of his reputa-
tion was gained, and on which it continued to rest,
"The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Directory."
After wielding a tremendous influence upon the mo-
biliary art of his time, Chippendale died at a ripe old
age, in 1779, and was buried at St. Martin 's-in-the-
Fields.

It is necessary to know this much of Chippendale
and his environment that we may be able to understand
his work. He excelled in the quality of discrimination
and the ability to adapt successfully the styles of other
makers, thereby displaying a broad constructive orig-
inality, as already noted. These styles he shaped to
his own tastes and inclinations, improved upon them
structurally and often bettered them artistically.

148 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Moreover, he possessed the tradesman's shrewd
instincts, — knew how to cater to his numerous and
wealthy patrons, and prospered exceedingly. It was
doubtless the commercialisation of his craft and the
fantastic whims of some of his wealthy customers that
either encouraged or permitted him to make some of
his over-elaborated and less satisfactory pieces, while
the necessity to court, as well, the patronage of a less
affluent clientele imposed a restraint to fanciful ex-
travagance which resulted in much of his best and
most artistic work.

With his many-sided tastes and the search for wide
variety in the fields in which he browsed for inspiration,
Chippendale seems at times to have entertained a
vigorous determination to get as far away as possible
from the English furniture styles of all preceding
epochs ; and he certainly succeeded in so doing. Not-
withstanding this revolutionary attitude, which, for a
Briton, showed decided originality in the mere fact
of breaking from the sacred bonds of established prec-
edent, he retained and constantly made use of certain
features employed by his predecessors.

One of these was the cabriole, or bandy leg (Key
VI, 1, 2 and 9 and VII, 5 and 6), the introduction of
which some have mistakenly ascribed to Chippendale,
while others have altogether ignored his frequent use
of it, — for his more expensive chairs he used it almost
altogether, as the drawings in his book of published
designs will prove, — choosing to consider only his
straight-legged chairs and tables; though how they
could close their eyes to the innumerable cabriole repre-
sentatives is a mystery.

Another feature that he retained and elaborated

CHIPPENDALE HOOP-BACKED CHAIR IN MAKER'S EARLY MANNER

(Uprights with stepped curve above seat: shaped and carved seat-rail; carved

cresting of cabriole extending to top of seat-rail; dolphin feet)

CHIPPENDALE CHEST OF DRAWERS WITH DECORATIVE BRASS MOUNTS

CHIPPENDALE GILT MIRROR FRAME

CHIPPENDALE TRIPOD BASON STAND

(All are authentic Chippendale pieces)

By Courtesy of Richard A. Canfield, Esq., New York City

PLATE XIV

CHIPPENDALE 149

was the general outline of the splat in chair-backs.
This splat, or panel, that had commonly been solid in
the chairs of the Queen Anne period, showing piercings
or perforations as the Early Georgian epoch advanced,
he cut into interlacing or fretted patterns (Key VI, 1,
3, 5, 7 and 8). In this work, too, he retained and elabo-

Flo. 1. Carved and Gilt Chippendale Mirror.
By Courtesy of Augustus Van Cortlandt, Jr., Sharon, Conn.

rated the C and S scrolls (Plate XIV, p. 148) that the
Queen Anne chairmakers had employed so extensively.
His method of adapting and introducing these scrolls
showed both originality and ingenuity. So constantly
and persistently did he use these that Isaac Ware, a
King's Surveyor and an ardent disciple of the Inigo

150 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Jones school, wrote: "It is our misfortune to see, at
this time, an unmeaning scrawl of C's, inverted and
looped together, taking the place of Greek and Eoman
Elegance, even in our most inexpensive decorations. It
is called the French, and let them have the praise of it;
the Gothic Shafts, and Chinese, are not beyond it, nor
below it, in poorness of imagination. ' '

There can be little doubt that Chippendale, with his
inspiration professedly drawn from French, Gothic,
and Chinese sources, was the person aimed at in this
bit of invective. Ware should not have ' ' blamed ' ' him,
however, for the C and S scrolls, for these he had
simply retained as part of his cabinet-making heritage,
and been guilty of nothing worse than elaboration —
and beautiful elaboration at that. Still another fea-
ture that he had kept from the work of his English
predecessors was his attachment to staunch, straight-
forward "carcase" work. No matter how much, at
times, he might overlay it with florid and occasionally
gingerbread ornamentation, he kept his "carcases"
for the most part true to English precedent, and in-
dulged only moderately in the vagaries and tricks of
joinery that his French models, for whom he professed
such admiration, were wont to affect.

It is necessary to glance for a moment at the sources
from which Chippendale avowedly drew his types. At
an early age he seems to have become enamoured of
the "Louis Quatorze" and "Louis Quinze" and to
have mastered thoroughly all their intricacies of
Eococo detail and ornamentation.

Another source to which Chippendale turned for
basic inspiration on which to frame his own ideas was
the work of the old Gothic builders. His Chinese efforts

CHIPPENDALE 151

were frankly the outcome of an effort to adapt the ideas
of Sir William Chambers so that they might be sus-
ceptible of employment for English uses. Chinese
fancy pleased Chippendale, and he forthwith set about
adapting it according to his own notions. Nearly all
his work, outside of that developed from distinctly Eng-
lish traditions, falls naturally into a classification under
these three headings : Gothic, Chinese and French.

One discerning writer has somewhat facetiously
suggested a fifth classification as "Inexpensive," and
included under this heading all the sound, sensible
pieces of his work divested of all the excess of florid
carved ornamentation that Chippendale occasionally
indulged in for the delectation of a few of his wealthy
customers who, apparently, had more money than good
taste. It must be conceded, even by those who cherish
little admiration for Chippendale's style, that one of
the prime characteristics of his work is strength and
solidity, without heaviness.

Although Chippendale turned his hand both in de-
sign and execution to every ordinary article of fur-
niture except sideboards — ^he did make "sideboard
tables," but these will be discussed later — ^he was un-
questionably at his best in the treatment of chairs.

ARTICLES

As we pass from the end of the early Georgian epoch
into the period when Chippendale's influence was the
dominant power in English furniture designing and
making we find a larger number of articles in common
household use. A comparison of the list with the lists
given in preceding chapters will show which articles
were additional.

152 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

A complete inventory of pieces made at that time
will include chairs, stools, settees (Key VII, 1 and 3),
sofas, daybeds, bedsteads, tables, chests (Key IX, 6),
chests of drawers (Key VIII, 6), chests on chests, high-
boys, lowboys, cabinets, secretaries (Key IX, 1), desks,
writing tables (Plate XVIII, p. 170), bookcases (Key
IX, 3), cupboards, dining tables (Key VII, 5, and VIII,
4), sideboard tables (Key VIII, 5), wardrobes, clothes-
presses (Key IX, 4), console cabinets (Plate XX, p.
180), or commodes, sideboards, pedestals, gueridons,
candlestands, wine coolers, firescreens, hanging shelves,
mirrors and clocks.

CONTOXm

Between the general contour typical of the Queen
Anne and Early Georgian period and the general con-
tour typical of the era in which the many-sided Chippen-
dale influence was all prevalent, there was a notable
difference. About 1725, owing to the introduction of
mahogany a few years previously, a change began to
take place m the form of furniture and by 1740 or 1745
this new tendency had become crystallised in well-
recognised forms.

The new wood, which had largely supplanted walnut
in popular favour, was stronger, tougher, and more
elastic than any material hitherto used and admitted of
methods of treatment that were formerly impossible.
The somewhat squat and solid contour — at times it
was even heavy— that had characterised the furniture
of earlier date, gradually gave place to greater ele-
gance of line and lighter form. We might say that the
element of "flexibility" was visibly increased.

This flexibility was particularly noticeable in the

CHIPPENDALE 153

carcases of some of the cabinet work in wMcli the
serpentine front was employed (Key VIII, 6). The
serpentine curves were used not only for the prinbipal
mass of the piece but in such an article, for example,
as a secretary the smaller inside drawers would be
made to follow the same concurrent curves in reduced
scale.

Then there were the hombe fronts and sides that
were found in some of the writing tables (Plate XVIII,
p. 170), clothes-presses, chests of drawers and com-
modes or console cabinets (Plate XX, p. 180) inspired
by French models. These hombe Chippendale pieces
must not be confounded with the earlier swell or kettle
front articles of Dutch ancestry. The curve of the
hombe front was as a rule far more sweeping and free.

While the Chippendale furniture — and let it be
always remembered that we use the term "Chippen-
dale" for all the Chippendale school — ^was distinctly
substantial and visibly indicative of a structural sound-
ness wholly in accord with English traditions, there
was, nevertheless, an appreciable advance in general
shapeliness and grace of proportion. His chairs, for
example, in many instances are practically identical
with French originals so far as the scheme of orna-
mentation is concerned, but in both contour and struc-
ture (Key VI, 9) they are purely English-English in
the retention of bandy leg, claw foot, broad back and the
big Dutch seat of an earlier period.

In connexion with chair contours it should be noted
that by the beginning of the Chippendale period a
square or approximately square topped back (Key VI,
1) had almost wholly taken the place of the hoop form
of back so characteristic of the forepart of the

154 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Queen Aime-Early Greorgian period. Another signifi-
cant change also was the continuance of the uprights or
backposts in a line with the legs along with the disap-
pearance of the stepped curve just above the seat and
the abandonment of "spooning." . Chair seats were
angled instead of rounded at the front corners and
tapered with straight sides to the back.

In the larger cabinet work the contour of the carcase
was generally shaped on classic lines but in the matter
of embellishment there was the largest latitude.. Many
of the long bookcases were of the three divisional type
(Key IX, 3), that is to say, a central section projected
somewhat beyond the flanking wings on each side and
was frequently capped by a pediment. The pediments
atop bookcases and other pieces of furniture were
either straight or of the swan-neck type (Key IX, 1
and 2). Chippendale mouldings are generally of a dis-
tinctly architectural character and are not heavy but
well proportioned.

In chairs and other pieces of furniture, also, both
cabriole and straight, square legs were used "and
stretchers were often employed but not invariably. In
pieces of English and Chinese type we do not find
waved, arched or ogeed aprons, while in some of the
French pieces, on the other hand, aprons are shaped to
receive (Plate XIV, p. 148) the embellishment of carv-
ing. Several kinds of bracket feet are used for cabinet
work but the ogee style is most often employed, es-
pecially the sort sometimes called a Chinese foot (Key
IX, 1 and 2) which is distinguished by a peculiar curve
(Plate XV, p. 154) often seen in old Chinese jars or in
teakwood stands.

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CHIPPENDALE 155

CHAIRS

Of all pieces of furniture, chairs are the most sensi-
tive to new influences, and the quickest to indicate a
change of style. How this was true in a general way-
has been previously mentioned. How it was true in a
particular way, namely in the case of Thomas Chippen-
dale or the school of furniture designing called by his
name, we shall presently see.

Chippendale's versatility in adapting styles and
combining types of ornament, or the faculty of so do-
ing, common to the chair- and cabinet-makers of his
period — ^which ever way one chooses to put it — ex-
pressed itself in four distinct phases, which may be
classified as follows: (1) the early or distinctly Eng-
lish phase, which grew out of, and was adapted from, the
types in vogue (Plate XIV, p. 148) in the latter part of
the Queen Anne-Early Georgian period (Key VI, 1) ;
(2) the Gothic and fretted phase (Key VI, 5 and 7) ; (3)
the Chinese phase (Key VI, 8, and VII, 1), and (4) the
phase ' ' in the French taste ' ' (Key VI, 9) . These phases
appeared successively at short intervals and practi-
cally in the order indicated. The appearance of a new
phase, however, did not mean that the types distinctive
of the preceding phase or phases were abandoned. On
the contrary, they continued in use and were employed
concurrently. In this connexion it should be noted that
the distinctly Gothic phase did not continue long in
independent form but merged, by a process of evolu-
tion and selection, into the fretted phase (Key VI, 5
and 7) and was perpetuated by the use of details of
ornament which were incorporated and adapted as
fancy dictated. Much of the so-called Chinese Chippen-
dale is Chinese only by faint suggestion of detail (Key

156 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

VI, 8) and might more accurately be classified as be-
longing to the fretted phase. While chairs "in the
French taste" are put in the fourth chronological
classification, much of the earlier work is full of French
detail and feeling.

What was true of chairs in the expression of the
several phases was true also of other pieces of fur-
niture, though sometimes in a less degree.

In the catalogue of sundry patterns of Chippendale
chairs, the great flaring wing chairs must not be over-
looked. They were wholly upholstered, the legs and
stretchers being the only wood visible.

Backs. The back is the most distinctive feature of
a chair and the part that usually supplies the key for
its proper classification. Chippendale chairs may be
classified as follows :

1. Splat back (Key VI, 1).

2. "Square-hoop" backed (Key VI, 4 and 9 and,
even more pronouncedly typical, (Plate XIV, p. 148).

3. Eibband-backed (Key VI, 3).

-^4. Grothic-pillar, bar, or tracery-backed (Key VI, 5).

5. Fret-backed (Key VI, 7 and 8).

6. Ladder-backed (Key VI, 4 and 6).

7. Square-backed (Key VI, 8, and VII, 4).

Top Bails must also be carefully considered in con-
nexion with backs and may be classified as :

I. " Cupid 's-bow" (Key VI, 6 and 7; Fig. 2, B, and
Plate XVI, p. 160).

II. Swept whorl (Key VI, 1).

III. An intermediate form between " Cupid 's-
bow" and serpentine found only on the early square or
flat-hooped backs (Plate XIV, p. 148).

CHIPPENDALE

157

IV. Straight, found on square upholstered, Chinese,
and fretted backs (Key VI, 8, and VII, 4).

V. Arched, found on square upholstered backs (Key
VI, 2, and VII, 2).

VI. Serpentine, found on ladder backs (Key VI, 4),

VII. High arched or triple arched, found on Gothic
and a few fretted backs.

1. In the splat-backed chairs, splats are (a) of inter-
laced strapping (Fig. 2, ^4), either flat (Fig. 3, B) or
beaded and carved (Fig. 2, C, and Fig 4 ; Plate XVI, p.

Fio. 2. A, Interlaced Strap Splat; B, Ladder Back Pierced; C, Pillared Splat.

160) ; (b) vertically pierced (Key VI, 1) ; (c) pierced in
sundry patterns in which C scroll, singly or in com-
bination (Plate XIV, p. 148), and various Gothic motifs
played a prominent part (Key VI, 5, 7, 9 ; VII, 3 ; Plate
XVI, p. 160) ; {d) fretted (Key VI, 7 and 8) ; (e) pil-
lared or barred (Fig. 2, C).

In all their subdivisions splat backs occur both flat
and carved.

2. Square or flat-hooped backs (Plate XIV, p. 148)
are found only in early chairs of "pre-Director" style,
and present a transitional form between the Queen
Anne-Early Georgian hooped back, and the back with
" Cupid 's-bow" top rail. The upper part of the back

158 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

is usually broader tlian in the hooped backs of preced-
ing period. Barely made after 1750. In some instances
the uprights of the flat-hooped backs retain the Queen
Anne stepped curve (Plate XIV, p. 148) just above
the seat. Central splat often composed of circles (Key
V,5).

3. Eibband backs (Key VI, 3) were intricately de-
signed and elaborately carved, usually introducing
cords and tassels and also flowers, as well as interlaced
and knotted ribbons. They were made almost ex-
clusively in the earlier period when Chippendale gave
his personal supervision or his actual labour to the
work and before the product of his shops became fully
commercialised.

4. Gothic-pillar, bar, or tracery (Key VI, 5) backs
enjoyed only a short vogue. The back was divided by
slender clustered pillars supporting the arches of the
top rail or was filled with moulded or fretted Gothic
traceries.

5. Fretted backs were often completely filled with
fret work of Gothic (Key VI, 5 and 7 ; VII, 4, and Fig.
5, A), Chinese (Key VI, 8; VII, 1, and Fig. 4) or con-
glomerate character. Simple geometrical repeats with-
out any particular nationality attaching to them were
also used (Fig. 5,B). Fret work was both flat and en-
riched with carving.

6. Ladder backs (Key VI, 4 and 6 ; Fig. 2, B, and
Fig. 3, A) had horizontal bars or slats springing from
the uprights and echoing the pattern of the top rail.
They were pierced and often interlaced (Fig, 3, A) as
well. They occur flat, moulded or carved.

7. Square backs are found in padded-back chairs
CKey VII, 4), both arm and side, and in some fretted

CHIPPENDALE

159

and Chinese patterned (Key VI, 8, and Fig. 4) chairs.
Upholstered chairs were often called ' ' French chairs ' '
(Key VI, 2) regardless of design, and are not to be
confounded with chairs "in the French taste."

Uprights were flat, moulded, fluted, carved or em-
bellished with applied frets according to style and
degree of elaboration.

Fia. 3. A, Ladder Back with Hooped Top Rail; B, Cupid's-bow Top Rail, GotUo motifs

in Splat,

In Posseasion of H. D. Eberlein, Esq.

Seats were almost invariably of square type with
slight taper towards back. Occasionally the front seat
rail was slightly bowed or serpentine. Shaping was
more frequent in later chairs of French type.

Flat seats were the rule but "dropped" or dipped"
(Key VI, 6) seats are also found. Both dropped-in
seats that could be set into the framing (Key VI, 7
and 9 ; Fig. 5, C ; Plate XVI, p. 160) and " stitched-up "
(Key VI, 4 and 5) seats were used. In "stitched-up"
seats the upholstery came down to the lower edge of
and concealed the seat frame.

160 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PEEIOD FURNITURE

Seat rails were rarely shaped except in later French
forms but were often carved or enriched with applied
frets. In some very early (Key VI, 1) chairs and some
late French chairs cresting of forelegs extended above
lower edge of seat frame.

In more ornate chairs, lower edge of seat rail often
had projecting edge of splayed gadroons (Fig. 4) or
a fine rope moulding. In very early types lower edge
of seat rail sometimes bulged and was carved.

A few instances are found among American chairs
where cabriole legs, club feet and pierced splat backs
exist in conjunction with rounded seat corners.

Arms joined uprights at angle (Key VI, 2, 6, 7, 8
and 9 ; VII, 1, 2, 3, and 4 ; Plate XVI, p.l60) ; in wooden
chairs were shaped outward and inner edge pared
down (Key VI, 7 and 9; Plate XVI, p. 160) ; in up-
holstered chairs were usually straight and parallel
with side rails of seat (Key VII, 4).

In wooden chairs, arms (1) joined supports of un-
broken curve and support was shaped forward to join
top of front leg, or side rail slightly back of same (Key

VI, 6 and 9, and VII, 1, 2, 3 and 4) ; (2) projected beyond
supports and terminated in slightly flaring scroll (Key

VII, 2) ; support shaped forward and dowelled to side
rail back of foreleg; (3) junction of arm and support
similar to either of two preceding. Support shaped
slightly backward, joining side rail farther back.

In upholstered chairs support joined arm at angle
and was shaped forward in single curve (Key VII, 4)
to top of foreleg or seat rail.

In chairs of Chinese pattern arms were canted
(Key VI, 8) and usually filled with fretwork (Key VI,
8; and Fig. 4).

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CHIPPENDALE

161

Legs were (1) cabriole (Key VI, 1, 2, 3 and 9; and
Fig. 4) ; (2) straight (Key VI, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8) or (3)
fretted (Key VI, 5 and 8; VII, 1 and 2; Plate XVI,
p. 160).

1. Cabriole legs were used exclusively in the early
period and concurrently with straight legs after the
latter appeared. Cabriole legs are found in conjunction

FiQ. 4. Chinese Fret Back, Arm Detail, Gadroon Carving at Lower Edge of Seat Rail
and Acantlius Carved Knee.

with backs of the following pattern (Key VI, 1, 3, 7
and 9; Plate XVI, p. 160).

2. Straight legs appeared synchronously with
Gothic and Chinese designs. They were {a) square
or chamfered on inner edges; (&) composed of slen-
der clustered columns, and (c) in a few instances
tapered. Square legs were grooved, carved, or adorned
with applied frets. Clustered column legs were turned
and ringed. Tapered legs were either turned and
ringed or carved.
11

162 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

3. Fretted legs were straight and sometimes pierced.
The pierced sort are rarely met with.

Fretted brackets are often used at junction of
square legs and seat rails (Key VII, 1; and Fig. 5, B).

Steetchbes reappeared with the straight leg. Front
stretcher was almost invariably recessed. In the more
ornate chairs stretchers were often carved, fretted,
pierced, or moulded (Key VI, 5; Plate XVI, p. 160).

Fig. 5. A, Pierced and Fretted Stretchers; B, Fretted Bracket between Legs and Seat;
C, Strap Pierced Splat.

Feet. With cabriole legs the following types of
feet occur: (a) Club, very early; (&) web, early; (c)
scroll, early and late; {d) leaf, early; (e) paw, early;
(/) dolphin, early; (g) slipper, middle; (h) claw and
ball, all the time.

With square legs, when there is a distinct foot, it
is of block type.

Clustered column legs have round moulded feet.

STOOLS

Stools were of infrequent occurrence, but when made
corresponded with chairs.

CHIPPENDALE
SOFAS AND SETTEES

163

Chair back settees and sofas followed precisely-
same structural and decorativo principles as chEiirs
(Key VII, 3). Some of the large sofas have arched
backs and stuffed or rolled over (Fig. 6) arms.

Fia. 6. Sofa with Arched Back and Stuffed over Arms.
By Courtesy of John T. Morris, Esq., Compton, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.

WINDOW SEATS

Window seats usually followed same lines as chairs.
Some window seat arms are curved over and the backs
bowed or arched.

DAYBEDS

Daybeds, when found, were of the same structure
and type as chairs.

BEDSTEADS

Chippendale bedsteads were less pretentious than
those of the earlier part of the preceding period. They
were, however, sufficiently imposing to justify the
statement that the eighteenth century was the age of
four posters. The posts had either cabriole or square
bases, the foot of the cabriole base being usually of a
claw and ball type, although other types were also
found. The square bases had block feet.

164 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

The shaft of the post from the framing upward was
rounded or octagonal and fluted or reeded. In addi-
tion, it was frequently embellished with ornate carving,
the acanthus ornament being a favourite motif,
although other types of decoration were also used.

The tester was adorned with fretwork and carving
and made a considerable showing above the valances
and curtains.

Headboards were gradually coming into use during
the Chippendale period.

Though bedsteads were occasionally designed
according to the French Gothic or Chinese taste, they
were ordinarily of a type which, for convenience sake,
we shall classify as English.

TABLES

What was said in connexion with chairs respecting
the four phases of Chippendale styles, the modes of
embellishment and types of legs, holds good also of
tables. It remains, therefore, to enumerate the typical
varieties of tables and to note their general contour
and structure.

Dining Tables largely followed the general type
used in the preceding period. That is to say, the
tables were oblong, had drop leaves (Key VTII, 4), and
cabriole legs (Key VII, 5). The points of difference
were that the drop leaves were often semi-circular or
oval in shaping, the apron or under framing was not
shaped and there were often three cabriole legs at
each end instead of two, the middle leg being station-
ary and two legs at each end being hinged to pull out
and support the leaves, which, being of mahogany,
were apt to be heavy.

CHIPPENDALE 165

Square-legged tables of the same general type were
also used, the underframing at the ends being straight.
A third type of dining table is of rarer occurrence. It
has eight square legs, the top is a long oval (Key VIII,
4) when the drop-leaves are extended, and these drop-
leaves are supported on each side by two of the legs
which are hinged and pull out, leaving the other four
legs to support the ends.

Cabd Tables were (Key VII, 6) made in great num-
bers and occurred in several forms, one of the most
common of which had cabriole legs and a double top.
One of the legs was hinged to pull out and support the
flap top when opened. These cabriole card tables were
either plain, or highly ornamented, the ornaments being
applied on the edges of the top, the rails which became,
for the time being, a frieze, the lower edging of the rails
often consisting of splayed gadroons, and the knees and
feet.

The tables were sometimes exactly rectangular,
sometimes with projecting comers, either squared (Key
VII, 6) or circular.

Oftentimes the comers were ''dished" to hold
candlesticks, and there were four oval-shaped cups for
money or counters. The tops when opened frequently
displayed cloth covering strained over the wood.

Eectangular card tables were also made with square
legs and turn over tops, one leg being hinged. These
were either plain or highly carved.

A third kind of card table was semi-circular, with
square legs and triple top.

Dbawing Tables were in great demand and made
in numbers. In general appearance they were similar
to the square-legged card tables, just described, but had

166 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PEEIOD FURNITURE

adjustable tops to accofrunodate the drawing board and
instruments. Frequently the drawer pulled out, sup-
ported by two sliding legs.

Side Tables. Oblong rectangular side tables for use
against the wall were made in large numbers and were
either of the cabriole > variety (Plate XVIII, p. 170),
square-legged or made according to some of the Gothic
or Chinese (Key VIII, 5) conceits. Tables of this sort
were both plain and decorated. They were really the
sideboard tables to which a special section is devoted-
later.

Tea Tables occurred in a variety of shapes. The
four-legged variety had either cabriole or square legs
and the top was surrounded with a gallery or rim, either
moulded, carved, or fretted (Plate XIX, p. 174). The
tops were sometimes detachable and meant to serve as
trays. These tables were both plain and decorated,
and usually of dainty proportions. In use they were
closely akin to the tripod tables. In some of the more
delicate tables rising saltire stretchers were used (Plate
XIX, p. 174).

Tbipod Tables. The introduction of tripod furni-
ture is to be ascribed to Chippendale more probably
than to any of his contemporaries. The tripod table
had either a round or rectangular top, which was often-
times hinged so as to tiirn up when not in use. Some
of the tops were plain but more frequently were
"sunk," that is to say, they had rims or galleries,
moulded, carved or fretted. The familiar pie-crust rim
(Key VIII, 2) belonged to this type of table, and was
carved, as its extreme irregularity of outline could
not conveniently be turned.

The shaft was frequently fluted, reeded or carved

CHIPPENDALE CABINET IN CHINESE MODE

(Of authentic Chippeadale origin)

By Courtesy of Richard A. Canfield, Esq., New York City

PLATE XVII

CHIPPENDALE 167

and often sprang from a turned or carved vase or bulb
which rested upon three cabriole legs.

The cabriole legs were usually carved more or less
elaborately and terminated in feet of various shape,
the claw and ball or slipper feet being the most com-
mon, although other forms also occurred. The slipper
feet are more common where the legs and the shaft are
plain. All the plainer American tripod tables are to
be classed as belonging to the Chippendale period.

CHESTS OF DRAWERS AND CHESTS

Chests of drawers were of two varieties, low and
high. The low chests of drawers were supported on
short cabriole legs with claw and ball feet or upon
shaped bracket (Key VIII, 6) feet. The base of the
plinth was generally straight, sometimes with a splayed
gadroon edge. There were ordinarily four drawers.
The fronts of the drawers either overlapped the rails
slightly and were edged with a small ovolo moulding
or else were cock beaded. The fronts were straight
(Plate XrV, p. 148) or shaped. The shaped fronts were"
generally of the (Key VIII, 6) serpentine type, but in
the late French phase were sometimes bombe.

Corners were either straight or else canted or cham-
fered (Key VIII, 6).

In some instances the top drawer was arranged
with a small mirror and other toilet accessories. These
chests of drawers varied from extreme plainness to all
degrees of elaborate carving and mountings (Plate
XIV, p. 148).

High chests of drawers were similar to the low
chests, except that the upper section of four drawers
in depth was superadded. In the upper section of these

168 PEACTICAL BuuJi UJb' JfiiKlOD FURNITURE

high chests the corners often contained quarter-round
section fluted pillars (Key XVIII, 6; Plate XLIII, p.
304) applied which terminated in a capital at the frieze.
The cornices of these high chests were carefully-
moulded and the frieze often contained elaborate or-
namentation of either carving or fretwork.

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Tops were sometimes straight, sometimes sur-
mounted with a pediment either straight, broken or of
the scroll swan-neck type.

Fronts of the high chests were commonly straight.

A third type of chest was occasionally found con-
sisting of three separate divisions placed one upon the
other. Oblong chests with lifting lids were still occar
sionally made and were sometimes supported on four-
legged stands (Key IX, 6).

CHIPPENDALE 169

HIGHBOYS

Highboys were made of a similar character to those
in vogue in the preceding period. As stated in that
chapter, the highboy was not a popular piece of furni-
ture in England after the early part of the eighteenth
century, and to America we must look for its fullest
development and enrichment (see Chapter XIV).

The highboys of Chippendale type have cabriole legs
and claw and ball feet.

The upper portion is of slightly narrower dimen-
sions than the lower, and the top, often carried to a
great height, is, more often than not, surmounted by a
swan-neck pediment. There are frequent instances,
however, of straight tops. A common form of adorn-
ment with the corners was the quarter-round section,
fluted pillar (Key XVIII, 6).

Some variation of the scallop shell ornament usually
occupied the front of the small middle upper drawer.

The legs were carved with all degrees of elaboration.

LOWBOYS

Lowboys corresponded exactly with highboys, ex-
cept that the elaborate scallop-shell ornament, when
used, was applied to the small middle drawer. The
drawers were differently arranged from the lowboys.
In some the body was straight, with drawers of equal
depth; in others the middle portion was shaped so
that a variation in the size and shape of the drawers
was necessary.

CABINETS

The Chippendale period was rich in the variety of
cabinets made and decorated in all the four phases of
Chippendale styles. Some of them were large and

170 PEACTICAL BOUK UF PJiRIOD FURNITURE

imposing, being made in three sections, of wMcli the
middle projected beyond the sides. The lower part
was enclosed with doors, while the upper portion was
either open with shelves for the display of bric-a-brac,
or enclosed in glass doors, which frequently were em-
bellished with elaborate tracery (Plate XVII, p. 166).

Other cabinets were entirely open in front and had
tiers of shelves for china or articles of vertu.

A third type of cabinet was supported on legs, either
cabriole or straight, and had an upper portion composed
of shelves enclosed with glass doors in front. These
cabinets were made usually in the English or French;
phases but also occur in Chinese type.

Console cabinets, sometimes called commodes (Plate
XX, p. 180), came into use during the period of French
influence.

There were also small low cabinets containing two
or three drawers supported on short legs, usually of
the square type.

Small hanging cabinets with richly carved frame-
work must be included in the list (Plate XIX, p. 174).

WHITING FURNITURE

Chippendale writing furniture was various in scope,
and included the following:

Wbiting Tables were made rectangular in shape,
with tiers of drawers at the ends at either side of the
sitter, the middle space being open to accommodate the
knees. These writing tables were made in all the
phases, and variously ornamented. In the French
phase the bombe fronts (Plate XVIII, p. 170) are made
with extreme precision and nicety of workmanship, not

CHIPPENDALE BOMBE MAHOGANY WKITING TABLE

(Of authentic Chippendale origin)

By Courtesy of Richard A. Canfield, Esq., New Yort City

CHIPPENDALE .NL\RBLE TOP MAHOGANY SIDE TABLE

(Of authentic Chippendale origin)

By Courtesy of Richard A. Canfield, Esq., New York City

PLATE XVIII

CHIPPENDALE 171

only the fronts but the inner portion of the drawers
as well being cunningly shaped.

Bureaux, or small secretaries, stood upon legs sup-
porting a low base. The base sometimes contained a
drawer, and in the upper portion were two drawers,
with a falling slant-top desk which, when open, was
supported on two slides which pulled out at the ends
of the top drawer. Similar in general design to Key
V,6.

High Chests op Drawees were sometimes made with
the top drawer of the lower section having a pull-down
front and equipped inside with pigeon-holes, drawers
and proper fittings for writing materials. These were
combination pieces, evidently intended for use in bed-
rooms.

Bureau Bookcases (Key IX, 1) either with slant-
top desks that pulled down and were supported on
slides or with pull-down straight fronts to top drawers,
supported by brass quadrants (Key IX, 3) , were largely
used throughout this period. They had either drawers
or cupboards in the lower part, and the upper part had
doors enclosing shelves. The tops were either straight
or surmounted by pediments. The doors of the upper
portion were sometimes glazed and sometimes panelled
in wood (Plate XV, p. 154).

Slant-top Secretaries with drawers in the lower
part and no superstructure were also in common use.

AU the writing furniture not supported on legs
rested either upon a solid plinth, shaped bracket feet,
or some variety of cabriole ball and claw foot.

In America some of the cabinets, secretaries, high-
boys, lowboys and other large pieces of furniture, have
what are familiarly known as block fronts (Plate

172 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

XLin, p. 304). Although these block fronts were pe-
culiarly popular in America they were not unknown in
England. It had been positively asserted by recent
writers that they were of American invention and
originated during the Chippendale period. Beautiful as
they are and much as we should like to claim their in-
vention for America, fairness compels us to state that
the block front, or the tubbed front, as it is sometimes
called, was known in England as early as the second
quarter of the eighteenth century, long before its manu-
facture was dreamed of on our own side of the Atlantic.

BOOKCASES

Bookcases were.made in one or three sections (Key
IX, 3) and were often ponderous and impressive affairs.
The glass doors of the upper portion were often beauti-
fully traceried with delicate designs and cleverly-con-
trived astragal mouldings between the panes and glass.
It is to be remembered that the mouldings really did
separate the pieces of glass and were not merely put
over the front of one large sheet, an unjustifiable and
slovenly practice that sometimes obtains in the making
of reproductions. Drawers or doors usually occupied
the lower part and sometimes, in the triple-section book-
cases, the middle part had drawers and the end parts
doors. It is not uncommon in such bookcases for the
upper drawer of the middle part to be fitted as a secre-
tary with a pull-down front. Bookcases, owing to the
weight they had to support, usually rested on a solid
plinth. The top was either straight, with a well-bal-
anced cornice and frieze, or else surmounted by a pedi-
ment. In the elaborate bookcases with pediments at
top there was great play for the ingenuity of the de-

CHIPPENDALE 173

signer and carver, opportunities of which they often
fully availed themselves (Key IX, 1 ; Plate XV, p. 154).

CUPBOARDS

Three-cornered cupboards flourished all during the
Chippendale period, the lower part had doors and the
upper part was enclosed with glass. Sometimes the
upper part had one large door, sometimes two nar-
rower doors which had either straight or round arch
tops. Usually there was a drawer between the lower
and upper sections. The tops of these three-cornered
china cupboards were straight, with a well-moulded cor-
nice and frieze, or topped by a pediment, usually of the
scroll swan-neck type.

Cupboards with closed doors in both top and bottom
(Key IX, 2) sections were less common, and sometimes
such cupboards had semi-circular fronts, the doors be-
ing ingeniously carved.

SIDEBOARD TABLES

Sideboards as we know them did not belong to the
furniture of Chippendale style. Instead, there were
elaborate, rectangular, oblong sideboard tables, sup-
ported on four, or sometimes six, legs.

The legs of these sideboard tables were more often
straight (Key VIII, 5) than, of the cabriole form
(PlateXVIII,p.l70).

It was not unusual for the rails or underf raming be-
tween the legs to be made into an elaborate frieze,
either carved or fretted (Key VHI, 5; Plate XVIII,
p. 170).

The tops were either of wood or marble, but wood
was the more usual substance.

174 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

These were placed at the sides of the dining-room^:
and largely served the purpose to which the more fully-
developed sideboard was in later times put.

WARDROBES AND CLOTHES PRESSES

Wardrobes and clothes presses (Key IX, 4) of the
Chippendale period ordinarily had two or threedrawers
in the lower part, and the upper part had two doors
enclosing either shelves or hanging spaces for clothes.
They were made of considerable height, with straight
or pediment tops, and generally rested upon shaped
bracket feet or cabriole supports with claw and ball,
or other appropriate form of foot.

In the French period the hombe form of clothes press
swelled out to portentous dimensions in the lower part.

SMALf, FURNITURE

The small furniture of the Chippendale period con-
sisted of candle stands (Plate XIX, p. 174), cellarettes,
barometer cases, fire screens (Key IX, 5 and 7), basoii
stands (Plate XIV, p. 148), hanging shelves, and a
great variety of other small conveniences which the in-
creasing culture of the time demanded. The candle
stands and most of the fire screens belonged to the
genus of tripod furniture, and were generally wrought
with care and elaboration. The candle stands were
made in the modes of all four phases, while the fire
screens were generally confined in style to the English
or later French modes.

Hanging shelves were usually carved or fretted, and
some of thein are extremely graceful and beautiful.

MIRRORS

Mirrors in the Chippendale period exist in a great
variety of forms. Two kinds especially must be noticed.

CHIPPENDALE FRETTED GALLERY TABLE, HANGING CABINET, CANDLE

STAND AND ^SOP GILT MIRROR (All are of authentic Chippendale origin)

By Courtesy of Richard A. Canfield, Esq., Now York City

PLATE XIX

CHIPPENDALE 175

The oblong mirror in mahogany frame with fretted
scroll top and base, and sometimes the addition of
gilded ornament, is met with in great numbers on both
sides of the Atlantic (Key XIX, 1 and 3).

The other form of mirror frame in which the Chip-
pendale craftsmen particularly delighted was elab-
orated to the last degree. It was highly carved in all
manner of fantastic designs (Fig. 1 ; Plates XIV, p. 148
and XIX, p. 174), often with subjects taken from
^sop's Fables, or with intricate Chinese patterns, and
was then heavily gilt.

Both types of mirrors remained in favour long
after newer furniture forms had supplanted recognised
Chippendale styles for other objects of household
equipment.

CLOCKCASES

Tall clockcases were designed to accord with other
articles of furniture in use at this period, and their
pattern and particular modes of embellishment were
determined by the phase in which it pleased the designer
and carver to work. Most of the clockcases may be
classified as belonging to the English or French phases.

MATERIALS

The chief material for Chippendale furniture, and
one with which we always associate the Chippendale
period, is, of course, Mahogany. Mahogany of prac-
tically every variety was used by the school of Chippen-
dale furniture-makers, and upon the quality of the
material depended much of the charm inherent in the
pieces they produced. The quality of mahogany it
must be remembered varied materially with the con-

176 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

ditions of its growth. The mahogany trees which grew
on solid ground and in exposed situations yielded what
is considered the finest timber, both in point of colour
and grain. The mahogany which was always regarded
with the highest esteem was what is generally known as
Spanish, which has a ' ' clouded ' ' grain and was obtained
principally from the Islands of San Domingo and Cuba.
As was natural, the finest and largest trees near the
coast were first cut and the timber exported, and for
this reason we can understand how so much of the early
mahogany, finding its way to England, was of sur-
passingly beautiful quality and texture. As the supply
on the coast became depleted, it was necessary to go
further inland for the larger trees, and the cost of trans-
portation was necessarily increased. Because of the
increased cost, it then became the practice to import
mahogany from the Bay of Campeachy in the Hon-
duras. This Honduras mahogany differed materially
from the "Spanish" mahogany in that it was of more
open grain, of inferior colour and lighter weight.
Occasionally it had a rippled figure. In both the
Honduras and Spanish mahogany, the wood from the
root is deeper in colour and the figure much more
marked.

During the American revolution, a point to which
attention will be called in the proper chapter, a substi-
tute for mahogany was found in wood called Bilsted,
which is a product of the liquidambar or sweet gum
tree.

Pine wood was used during the Chippendale period
for the making of mirror frames and for pieces of furni-
ture that were to be wholly gilt.

EosEwooD also was used to a considerable extent,
and owing to the richness of colour that it has obtained,

CHIPPENDALE 177

it is sometimes mistaken by the inexperienced for
mahogany.

Amboyna wood, a wood of peculiarly beautiful grain
and increasingly beautiful colour with advancing age,
was occasionally used, but not to any great extent, and
we do not usually associate amboyna with furniture
of the Chippendale period.

"Walnut, of course, continued to be used somewhat
during the Chippendale period, and was wrought into
the customary Chippendale forms although it did not
supply nearly so satisfactory a medium for elaborate
carving as mahogany. Especially in America, the wal-
nut, which was of a remarkably fine texture and colour,
was used concurrently with mahogany, and many of
our excellent old pieces of chaste form and contour
are made of this exceptionally beautiful walnut wood
that grew on the banks of the Schuylkill.

As to the upholstery materials used during the
Chippendale period, they were of varied quality and
texture. With the French styles of Chippendale furni-
ture, French brocades of exquisite pattern and weave
were freely employed, and great store was set by the
covers. Then also the fashion of embroidering chair
covers in petitpoint and grospoint continued in favour,
and many excellent old chair seats and settee covers
are still to be found that were worked at that time.
Leather also, in all colours from Turkey red morocco
and black, was freely used for chair and settee covers.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

Cabving was the chief decorative process applied to
the furniture produced by Chippendale and the men
of his school. Chippendale's father, it must be remem-
bered, was a carver as well as a cabinet-maker, and

178 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Chippendale's talent for carving was an inherited as
■well as an assiduously cultivated taste. He saw every-
thing with the eyes of a carver, and such a master of
his art was he that paint and inlay or any of the other
processes freely employed, both before and after his
day, were not needed for the embellishment of his furni-
ture. His imitators all followed his lead in placing
their chief dependence on carving. The great develop-
ment of delicately carved ornament that took place at
this epoch would not have been possible with any other
wood than mahogany, which supplied just the necessary
medium for the intricate work so highly esteemed.
Chippendale himself never lost an opportunity to lavish
the most elaborate carving upon any piece that his
patrons could be induced to pay for. Some of his work
is so overloaded with carving that its beauty is de-
stroyed. These flights of excess, however, were rare,
and most of his pieces, though more or less ornate,
kept within the bounds of good taste. His most pleasing
and graceful work is of the "inexpensive" type pre-
viously alluded to. It was, fortunately, only his wealth-
iest patrons who could afford to allow him free reign
to indulge his bent for ingenious carving. The Chip-
pendale imitators, for the most part, refrained from
attempting the most elaborate type of work, and when
they did their inability to manage proportion and detail
at once betrayed their inferiority.

Gilding was the next process to be considered after
carving. The gilding was used, with very few excep-
tions, altogether for the embellishment of mirror
frames. In comparatively rare instances it was used
in conjunction with carving and applied to mahogany
for purposes of extra enrichment.

CHIPPENDALE 179

Lacqueb was also used to a slight extent, and that
almost altogether in the Chinese style, for the embellish-
ment of some of the furniture. There was not enough
used, however, to affect seriously the generality of the
statement that carving was the essentially popular
Chippendale process of decoration.

Fbetting or the use of fretwork was practised to a
large extent for the adornment of table edges and the
tops of cabinet work (Plates XIX, p. 174 ; XVII, p. 166 ;
XV, p. 154). In such cases it was pierced. When used
for the enrichment of table or chair legs or underf ram-
ing the tables or any other part of cabinet-work, it was
applied to a solid background (Plate XV, p. 154).

TuENiKG was necessarily used to some extent in con-
junction with carving, but its application was mechani-
cal rather than decorative and it could not be reckoned
as a decorative process in the same manner as the turn-
ing of the Carolean period.

Veneeking was used from time to time, especially
in the furniture of French type, to obtain an especially
rich effect by the beauty of the grain in the panels of
doors.

Inlay was employed in one or two instances, but
with such extreme rarity that it may be questioned
whether Chippendale and his avowed followers ever
used it except in the execution of a special order de-
signed, in all probability, by some one other than them-
selves.

TYPES OF DECORATION

The types of decoration employed by Chippendale
and his school must be divided into four classes:
English, French, Chinese, and Gothic.

180 PEACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

English

Lions, so freely employed in the fumitiire and deco-
ration of Early Georgian times, were retained by the
Chippendale school, and appeared in various forms as
heads on seat rails, underf raining of tables and the
knees of chair and settee legs.

Masques, both human and grotesque, were freely
employed for the embellishment of elaborate pieces,
but are not commonly found (Plate XVIII, p. 170).

EvoLUTBS, or the wave pattern, can sometimes be
found on Chippendale pieces. The motif, however, be-
longs to an early period, and is not to be reckoned as
characteristic.

Egg and Daet motifs for mouldings were of occa-
sional occurrence and were also retained from the
architectural motifs of the Queen Anne-Early G-eorgian
style.

Claw and Ball feet were habitually used on mnob.
of the furniture of this date.

Acanthus of a peculiarly graceful type was freely
einployed in both the English and French types of the
Chippendale period.

French

Shells were frequently used in the French type of
furniture which followed Eococo motifs from general
inspiration.

Chinese

'Pagoda motifs were the most characteristic details
of the Chinese type of decoration (Fig. 4; Key VII, 1;
Plate XVII, p. 166).

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Gothic

Pointed Abches and Quateefoils were the essential
elements on which the Gothic type of decoration was
based.

STRUCTURE

Chippendale's furniture is structurally honest. It
is not only apparently strong but is actually so. Other-
wise so much of it could not have remained to the pres-
ent date in a perfect state of preservation.

The carcase work is all most carefully fitted and
joined ; that is to say, it is mortised and tenoned or else
dove-tailed together, and as only well-seasoned timber
was used it is quite as strong to-day as it ever was,
except in cases where it has been subjected to ill-usage.
Even in the most delicate work which sometimes has
the appearance of being fragile, the parts are all so
well-proportioned that the support for weight and
the resistance to strain come exactly where they are
most needed. As we have said before, Chippendale's
chief title to fame rests upon his chairs. In these he
displayed not only sound knowledge but common sense
in making his designs fit structural needs. The point
of greatest strain in a chair is at the junction of the
seat and back, and it is just at this point that Chippen-
dale's chairs are strongest. The broad base of the
splat is brought down to a firm junction with the back
seat rail, and this with the strength of the uprights
gives the necessary stiffness to chairs of the Chippen-
dale type and makes them peculiarly strong and endur-
ing. Even in the most delicate fretwork care was taken
to secure the maximum of strength. Instead of cutting
a fret from one solid piece, Chippendale's method was

182 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

to cut three thicknesses which were glued together, the
"way" of the central thickness running in the opposite
direction to the "way" of the two other thicknesses.

All the cabinet-work was most carefully fitted, and
even in writing tables with bomhe fronts and sides,
the drawers were shaped so that their sides conformed
to the outlines of the piece instead of being ordinarily
perpendicular and horizontal.

MOUNTS

It was a favourite theory of Chippendale's that the
brass mounts, that is to say, the handles and key-plates,
should lend a decorative effect to the general appear-
ance of the piece of furniture to which they were
attached. On most of the furniture of the ordinary or
"inexpensive" type, the handles, scutcheons and key-
plates were of the plain type that had been in use for
some time. They were either pierced and fretted or else
altogether plain. Not so, however, with the more elab-
orate furniture, particularly pieces made after the
French pattern. Here we find handles, scutcheons and
key-plates of the most elaborate and fanciful Eococo
pattern, equalling in intricacy the Ormolu mounts of
contemporary French furniture (Plate XIV, p. 148,
and XX, p. 180). In a few rare instances fretwork
mounts of brass were used purely for purposes of em-
bellishment quite apart from their utilitarian furni-
ture as handles, key-plates or scutcheons.

FINISH

The finish applied to the mahogany furniture of
the Chippendale period was to all intents the same as
that used during the Queen Anne-Early Georgian pe-

CHIPPENDALE 183

riod. Towards the end of the period no doubt some of
the mahogany pieces were finished in the manner in-
dicated in the section on Finish in the Sheraton
chapter.

It may be of value to note that in the present care
of old mahogany a weekly rubbing with a little double
boiled linseed oil on a soft woollen cloth will be found
highly beneficial. It may be added that this is the
method used by Mr. Canfield, whose collection of Chip-
pendale furniture is surpassed by none in America,
Fresh air is also a vital necessity in preserving the
healthy tone of the surface of old furniture.

CHAPTER Vn

THE BEOTHEES ADAM
c. 1762-c. 1792

WE caimot overestimate the vast import of the
influence exerted by the Brothers Adam
upon English furniture. They introduced
marked differences of form and structure. The changes
due to their inspiration were more radical, more sudden,
and of wider prevalence than any that had hitherto
taken place. When the curvilinear element appeared —
the most significant single occurrence so far chronicled
in furniture annals — it made at first a modest and in-
conspicuous showing towards the end of the Carolean
period, became distinctly frequent in the reign of
William and Mary and was paramount in the days of
Queen Anne and thereafter.

The Adam influence arose at a time when this curvi-
linear style, with which its ideals were wholly at vari-
ance, had for a long while enjoyed high favour and
to a great extent it supplanted that style. Moreover,
the inspiration for most of the furniture made thence-
forward till the end of the eighteenth century may be
directly traced to the style of design for which the
Adelphi ^ were responsible. Prior to this revolution in
design — ^for in effect it was such — ^whatever traces of
classic or of Eenaissance feeling had been present in
English furniture had come there through French, Grer-

' This Greek word, signifying brothers, was adopted by the four Adam
brothers as a trademark.

184

THE BROTHERS ADAM 185

man, or Flemish media, and had naturally lost some of
their purity of line and distinction of character in this
process of filtration.

The Brothers Adam, on the contrary, went directly
to the fountain head, both for general inspiration and
accurate detail, and brought into English mobiliary
art a powerful infusion of classicism, mostly of the
Italian type, pure and untainted by transmission
through any intervening channels. In the pronounced
return to a classic spirit in furniture design it should
be borne in mind that the Adams anticipated the work of
the French designers of the reign of Louis XVI. To
understand just why the classic element in the style
called after their name was so direct and vital it will be
necessary to rehearse a little of the personal history
of the Brothers Adam.

Before entering upon a brief biographical sketch of
the Adelphi, however, the reader must be reminded that
they were architects and designers and not makers of
furniture. When we speak of Adam furniture, there-
fore, we mean furniture that was made directly from
their designs. So great was their influence upon the
design of the latter half of the eighteenth century, both
architectural and mobiliary, that one is tempted, and
almost persuaded, to speak of the "Adam Period" in-
stead of the ' ' Adam Style. ' ' The forms and motifs they
introduced, as previously stated, dominated, or at least
furnished, the inspiration for nearly everything that
was designed in England, either in architecture or fur-
niture during the remainder of the century.

Eobert and James Adam doubtless inherited much
of their architectural bent from their father, who held
the appointment of King's Mason in Edinburgh and

186 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

achieved some fame as the designer of Hopetoun House
and also of the Eoyal Infirmary. The brothers John
and William were also architects, but it was Robert, the
second son, and his younger brother James, who made
the name of Adam famous, and it is with them alone
that we are concerned.

Robert was born in 1728 at Kirkcaldy and after
completing his course of education at the University
of Edinburgh he went, when twenty-two years of age,
to continue his architectural studies in Italy. He after-
wards went into Dalmatia to explore and examine the
ruins at Spalatro of the Emperor Diocletian's Palace.
This work he did with the utmost care and precision and
employed assistants to help him in making sketches and
taking accurate measurements of the ruins. The result
of these labours he published in 1764 in a large volume
dedicated to King George III, illustrated with his own
paintings, plans and explanations of the ruins, along
with admirable engravings by Bartolozzi.

He was afterwards appointed Architect to the King
but subsequently resigned that post when he entered
Parliament. His brother James then succeeded to the
honour he had relinquished. About 1768 the Brothers
began the series of real estate and building. operations
which brought them great wealth as well as fame,
though, as canny and provident Scots, they had never
been troubled by the limitation of penury and had
always, it seems, had abundant means to pursue their
bent. Of course they executed many other important
architectural commissions besides those in which they
engaged as matters of personal investment.

In 1773 they began to publish engravings of their
architectural work, but the undertaking was not com-

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THE BROTHERS ADAM 187

pleted until the appearance of a posthumous third vol-
ume in 1822. The title of this most valuable and illu-
minating set is the "Works in Architecture of Eobert
and James Adam, Esquires." Despite the title, the
volumes were not wholly devoted to architecture, for
there were sixty-four plates given to designs for
sconces, bookcases, mirrors, tables, console cabinets,
chairs, lamps, clocks and other articles of furniture.

One great reason for the success achieved by the
Brothers Adam was that they deemed no detail too
trivial or unimportant to receive their personal atten-
tion and care. They felt it both their duty and privi-
lege not only to design houses but to supervise their
interior decoration, and they did not regard a commis-
sion as completed until they had designed all the furni-
ture, supervised its making and witnessed its placing
in the positions they had planned for it. The same
care and thought they devoted to the building of a
palace they would likewise bestow upon the pattern to
be worked on the cushions of a chairback and seat or
arms or upon the design for a work-bag.

With such pains taken, it is natural to expect such
exquisitely designed work as we find, work that 'shows
how they lived up to the words of their preface by
seizing upon "the beautiful spirit of antiquity" and
transferring "it with novelty and variety through all"
their numerous undertakings. What they did for archi-
tecture they also did for furniture design. They ban-
ished ponderosity and substituted lightness and grace.
The characteristic features of furniture form and orna-
ment according to the Adam style will naturally re-
ceive consideration in a subsequent portion of this
chapter, but it will be quite in order to say at this point,

188 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

by way of general criticism, that almost without excep-
tion the furniture of Adam design is distinguished by
beautiful and refined proportion and by the "clever,
selection and application of cultured ornament."*

The actual makers of Adam furniture were Chip-
pendale, Hepplewhite and various other of their promi-
nent and capable contemporaries in the cabinet- and
chair-making craft. While Chippendale, who executed
many Adam connnissions according to designs fur-
nished him by the Adelphi, never forsook nor modi-
fied his own patterns for any of their inspiration, Hep- ,
plewhite and the others were very profoundly influ-
enced, as we shall see when we come to the Hepplewhite
chapter.

In some respects the makers influenced the designers
and modified their patterns, for neither Eobert nor
James Adam was himself a craftsman and so did not
thoroughly understand the nature of the wood nor the
manner of working it. Consequently they not infre-
quently designed details impossible of execution, and
it was then that practical craftsmen like Chippendale
and Hepplewhite were obliged to suggest and make
alterations.

In their furniture the Brothers Adam, used many of
the lighter woods, such as satinwood, amboyna, hare-
wood and various others that had not hitherto been
employed, or employed only to a limited extent for pur-
poses of inlay or the like. Nevertheless, much of their
furniture was executed in mahogany, which was de-
servedly entrenched strongly in popular favour.

Such eminent artists as Zucchi and Pergolesi, whom
they had brought from Italy, and Angelica Kauffmann

' Clouston.

THE BROTHERS ADAM 189

lent valuable assistance to the Adelphi by painting their
panels and their finer satiuwood furniture. The plaques
of Wedgwood were also occasionally introduced as an
embellishment in some of the finer cabinet-work. In
short, there was no exquisite resource of decorative
art that Eobert and James Adam did not apply to the
making of beautiful furniture, and posterity owes them
a debt of gratitude for the heritage of grace and beauty
they left behind them.

ARTICLES

Although the articles for which the Brothers Adam
furnished designs at one time or another included
practically every piece of furniture known to the domes-
tic economy of the day, we are concerned, generally
speaking, only "with chairs, stools, settees or sofas,
window seats and daybeds, bedsteads, tables, chests of
drawers, console cabinets, secretaries, bookcases, side-
board tables, pedestals, mirrors and clocks.

CONTOUR

In contour the style introduced by the Brothers
Adam struck an entirely new note. As previously men-
tioned, the curving structural lines so much favoured
during the Chippendale period were practically dropped
and the rectilinear element, one might almost say the
angular element, again became supreme. Curving lines
in occasional serpentine fronts or in half round tables
and console cabinets were often met with, to be sure,
but the directness of the straight structural line every-
where asserted itself. All the furniture was lighter and
more graceful in character. Legs were frequently
tapered and had spade feet (Key X,-3, 4 and 5), other
legs were round and fluted (Plate XXII, p. 190) . Mould-

190 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

ings and cornices were small and exceedingly refined in
detail (Fig. 1, A and B). Carcase work, save in semi-
circular console cabinets, was purely rectilinear. Tops

41- ~^a^ ^^'-'"'^'^

Fig. 1. Decorative Details Characteristic ot the Adam Style.

of cabinet work were straight or adorned with recti-
linear pediments. The well-known Adam vase or urn
(Fig. 1, C) appeared as a finial embellishment, and the

ADAM PAINTED CABINET WITH ANGELICA

KAUFFMANN PAXCL
By Courtesy nf Mr. C. J. Chnrlr..^, nf T.nndnn

ADAM PAINTED SIDE TABLE

By Courtesy of Mr. C. J. Charles, of London

PLATE XXII

THE BROTHERS ADAM 191

urn shape was also conspicuous in the knife boxes (Plate
XXI, p. 186) for sideboard pedestals. So far as con-
tour was concerned, the oval shape appeared chiefly in
mirrors, in semi-oval side tables — with insistently
straight legs — and the semi-oval swells to some of the
console cabinets with an otherwise rectilinear carcase.
Circular or oval lines (Key X, 1, 2 and 3) were also to be
found in some of the backs of the straight-legged chairs.
Both contour and detail were instinct with classic feel-
ing (Fig. 1,A,B and C) without any tincture of French
or other contemporary Continental influence, for the
Adelphi drew their inspiration directly from old Pom-
peian sources and kept their style pure of any modify-
ing medium.

CHAIRS

For the sake of convenience and clearness we shall
consider first arm-chairs and then side chairs. What is
said of the legs ^vill apply to both sorts. They were
square and tapered (Key X, 1 and 3), often with spade
feet or block feet, or round and fluted (Key X, 2) with
turned or moulded feet, and usually some form of
moulded ornamentation about the ancle. Back legs
were either straight and slanted somewhat or curved
backward. The more typical chairs were made without
stretchers, but stretchers were, nevertheless, used
(Key X, 1 and 3), and sometimes the front stretcher
was recessed and joined the side (Key X, 1) stretchers
instead of the front legs. Stretchers were also set
saltire wise (Key X, 3). Seats varied in shape. In
upholstered arm-chairs they were generally nearly
square with a slight taper towards the back. Some arm-
chair seats, however, were cu'rved outward in front

192 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

and at the sides were rounded towards (Key X, 2) the
uprights of the back. Seat rails were straight and
carved, painted or covered with upholstery. In some
Adam chairs, especially side chairs, we find the drop
seat. Arms ordinarily curved gently from the back
(Key X, 2), came well forward horizontally to where
the hand would naturally rest, made a sharp angle and
then curved forward, either to join the upper part of
the front legs or the side of the seat frame. Backs of
upholstered arm-chairs were square, with occasion-
ally an exceedingly slight arching curve at the top,
round or oval (Key X, 2). Arm-chairs with carved
backs were similar in design to side chairs. The charac-
teristic Adam back for side chairs was either wheel
shaped (Key X, 1 and 3) or oval (Key X, 2), the latter
being an adaptation of the former. The back legs either
projected above the seat and formed the supports of the
wheel or oval or a solid piece of wood, tenoned into the
back of the seat rail, formed the support. Chairs of
both types, though exceedingly graceful, were struc-
turally weak. The centre of the wheel or oval back was
a circular or oval patera from which the spokes radi-
ated. The outer rim was often finely fluted all the way
round (KeyX, 2).

STOOLS

Stools coincided with the contour and design of
chairs,

SETTEES OR SOFAS

The same thing may be said of sofas and settees in
general. There was little structural or decorative
difference.

THE BROTHERS ADAM 193

WINDOW SEATS AND DAYBEDS

The window seats designed by the Adams followed
the same general contour of those made in the Chippen-
dale style, having upright, curved over ends and no
backs. The chief difference lay in the greater refine-
ment and delicacy of line, the usually round, fluted legs
and the embellishment wrought with characteristic
motifs. These window seats had four, six or eight
legs. Daybeds were the same, except that one end
lacked the upright support above the seat.

BEDSTEADS

Bedsteads of Adam type are not plentiful but were
designed with slender fluted posts with square plinths
or bases. They are of such rare occurrence that it will
serve little practical purpose to discuss the few known
examples.

TABLES

The typical Adam table was rectangular, semi-circu-
lar or semi-oval. Wall tables were also made with ser-
pentine fronts. The legs were straight and either
square or round and almost invariably tapered. They
were very generally fluted or reeded. The square legs
ordinarily terminated in spade or block feet, while the
round legs terminated in some sort of moulded or carved
ornament, often a rendering of the water leaf motif.
The underframing was straight and decorated with
swags and drops (Fig. 1,A), fluting (Fig. 1, A, B and
C), circular or oval paterae (Fig. 1, A, B and C), urns,
wreaths or some of the other forms of ornament of
classic provenance which appeared with the Adam
influence (Plate XXH, p. 190).

194 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

CHESTS OF DRAWERS

Chests of drawers did not differ materially from
those previously made, except in more chaste and well-
considered proportion, adherence to horizontal and
vertical lines, small size and refinement of cornices and
mouldings and the application of typical decorative
detail.

, - CONSOLE CABINETS

In this particular form of furniture the Brothers
Adam were practically pioneers. Though similar pieces
of furniture had been made before their influence was
appreciably felt in matters mobiliary, they really devel-
oped and brought to perfection this article of necessity
for polite and elegant households. The console cabinet
was placed between windows or doors and was regarded
as essential to any symmetrical scheme of furnishing.
Above it was usually hung a handsome mirror and per-
haps a pair of ornate sconces to match it. The lines of
the console cabinetwere conspicuously vertical and hori-
zontal, while the front, usually with doors rather than
drawers, was often semi-circular or semi-oval (Key X,
5) in form. Sometimes, where the cabinet was designed
to fill a long space, the body would be rectangular and
the middle section would have a semi-circular or semi-
oval bay. Short tapering legs, square or round, sup-
ported these cabinets, which were nearly always highly
decorated.' Other cabinets, not of the console type
(Plate XXII, p. 190), were supported on tall legs.

SECRETARIES, BOOKCASES AND CHINA CUPBOARDS

These articles of furniture (Fig. 2) so exactly coin-
cide with the, corresponding pieces made by Hepple-
white, who executed many of the Adam commissions

ADAM GILT MIRROR AND CONSOLE TABLE

By Courtesy of Messrs. Hale and Kilburn, Philadelphia

PLATE XXIII

THE BROTHERS ADAM

195

anyhow — the Adams, be it remembered, never made a
stick of furniture themselves — that, for the sake of

LT iir

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Fio. 2. Bookcase of Characteristio Adam Contour.

convenience and brevity, they will be treated in the
Hepplewhite Chapter.

SIDEBOARD TABLES AND PEDESTALS

The development of the sideboard, furthered by
Shearer and Hepplewhite and reaching perfection in
the designs of Sheraton, was greatly advanced by the
Adelphi. They did not make the sideboard as we now
know it but enhanced the importance and grace of the
sideboard table, which they flanked at either end by
square pedestals of corresponding design, surmounted
by graceful urn-shaped knife boxes (Plates XXI, p. 186
and XXIV, p. 198; Key X, 4). They also frequently

196 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

put a wine cooler, or cellarette to match, undemeatli the
table. At the back of the table, against the wall, they
likewise added a metal, usually brass, rail or rails sup-
ported on uprights and sometimes further adorned with
attached candlesticks. The tables were long and nar-
row, with four or more legs, according to length, and
of the type already described in the section on tables.
The pedestals supporting the knife urns were used as
receptacles for sundry dining-room accessories and the
whole front was formed of a single door.

MIRRORS

The Brothers Adam would always be gratefully
remembered for the mirror frames they designed, even
though all their other work were forgotten. In shape the
mirrors were vertically or horizontally oblong, round,
or oval. The body of the frame was carved and gilt
and, in addition, light and graceful embellishments, too
airy to be executed in wood, were wrought in compo on
a wire core or frame. The graceful Adam urn fre-
quently formed the central ornament (Fig. 1, C) at the
top, from which all the other embellishments seemed to
radiate. Girandoles and sconces were designed to
match and accompany the mirrors. These mirrors were
often placed in a formal manner between windows
while below them stood a pier or console table (Plate
XXIII, p. 194).

CLOCKS

Tall case clocks seem not to have occupied the atten-
tion of the Adelphi to any great extent. Such clocks
as they did design were chiefly of the small mantel or
bracket type, and carried out the decorative motifs and
forms they commonly employed.

THE BROTHERS ADAM 197

MATERIALS

The materials used in the manufacture of furniture
of Adam design fill a comprehensive list.

Mahogany was too generally established in public
favour and possessed too many sterling qualities not
to be employed extensively. It afforded an excellent
medium for the special type of carved decoration in
which the Brothers Adam delighted.

Satinwood came next as a close second in popu-
larity. It was owing to the influence of the Adelphi
that satinwood, and other light and varied woods as
well, became so popularised that this epoch has been
fittingly called the "Age of Satinwood."

Stcamoke, either in its natural state, or treated with
chemical stain, was often used as a base for decorative
surfaces. Harewood was merely sycamore wood
stained.

Ambotna, owing to its beautiful grain and mellow
colour, was much esteemed as a veneer for some of the
finer cabinet-work.

TuLiPwooD was also esteemed for colour and grain.

Holly and Ebony, as well as other precious woods,
were used for inlay.

PiN^E and Lime were used for elaborate carving that
was to be painted or gilded.

Wedgwood Plaques were employed as inserts.

Mabble was used extensively for console, table and
cabinet tops.

CoMPO, as a plaster composition is commonly called,
was used for delicately moulded ornaments for mirrors
and girandoles where wood would have been too brittle.
The compo was applied on a wire core or frame.

198 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

The decorative processes made use of in the execu-
tion of Adam furniture were :

Caeving, which was usually applied to mahogany or
else to the pine and lime objects that were to be gilded.

TtrEnriNG was used only sparingly and on table,
chair and sofa legs of simpler pattern.

Inlay and Maeqtjetbkie afforded a valuable resource
for the delicate embellishment of flat surfaces of satin-
wood in such articles as chairs, settees, table tops, and
cabinets. The character of this marqueterie was quite
different to, and infinitely more delicate than, that of
the William and Mary period.

Veneeb was used for the rich effects of the grain
arranged in symmetrical patterns. Table and cabinet
tops, cabinet doors, and spandrel fans were commonly
made of veneer, and veneering in such cases was often
used in conjunction with painting.

Painting as an adjunct to the cabinet-maker's art
was never before so extensively and effectively em-
ployed. In addition to the delicate floral wreaths, rib-
bons and minute Pompeian motifs, the small panels,
plaques and cartoons painted by Angelica Kauffmann,
Cipriani and other noted artists (Plate XXII, p. 190),
were masterpieces in themselves. Satinwood furniture
was only partially painted, as the wood itself made a
most desirable background. Articles intended to be
wholly covelfed with paint and gilding were made of
baser woods; greens, whites, and other colours were
used as a base for gilded decoration in such cases (Plate
XXII, p. 190).

Gilding was used in the cases just mentioned and

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THE BROTHERS ADAM 199

also for entirely covering mirror frames, girandoles
and pier tables (Plate XXIII, p. 194).

TYPES OF DECORATIVE DESIGN

The types of decorative design used by the Brothers
Adam were exceedingly rich in variety, and might be
classified as architectural, floral and animal.

Under the Akchitectubal m<4ifs may be included
swags, both floral and of drapery (Fig. 1, A and G),
beading, guilloche (Fig. 1, E) interlacings, paterae,
both circular and oval (Fig. 1, A, B and C), masques,
Ionic capitals, and anthemion or classic honeysuckle
pattern, urns (Fig. 1, C), vases, minute and varied
Pompeian details, spandrel fans (Fig. 1, D) and egg
and dart mouldings.

Under Flosai, motifs may be mentioned pendent
husks (Fig. 1, C), water leaves or endives, roses, pal-
mette pattern, pineapples, acanthus leaves, and fuchsia
drops. Of course all the foregoing floral motifs were
pretty thoroughly conventionalised and of architectural
afl5nities.

The Animal motifs include rams' heads, goats'
heads, goats' feet, lions' heads, griffins, birds, and
human figures. Eibband designs were also used.

STRUCTUEE

The structure of most of the Adam cabinet-work,
owing to its generally rectilinear character, was good.
Furthermore, it was usually made by the best joiners.
The pieces with semi-circular or semi-oval fronts were
carefully and strongly made and structurally sound.
With chairs and settees, however, it was a different
matter. Some of them, especially those made in mahog-

200 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

any, were strong and durable, but others, while exceed-
ingly graceful in design, were structurally weak. The
satinwood chairs, above all others, were of frail stlnic-
ture, and it needs only a glance at the lines of the arms
and backs to be convinced of this.

The Brothers Adam, as architects, thought mostly
in terms of marble, stone and stucco^ and some of their
designs for furniture were utterly impracticable until
modified by the cabinet-makers to whom they entrusted
their commissions.

MOUNTS

The metal mounts for Adam furniture were de-
signed with the characteristic delicacy and care that
mark all work that goes by the name of the Adelphi.

B C

Fia. 3. Characteristic Adam Mounts.

The patterns varied largely with the individual pieces
designed, but the accompanying illustrations will
convey a fair notion of their beauty and refinement.

FINISH

The finish of Adam furniture was to all intents the
same as that of other furniture of the period, and what
is said in the Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton
Chapters will quite cover the subject.

CHAPTER VIII

GEOEGE HEPPLEWHITE
17 ?-1786

WE shall not speak of a Hepplewhite period of
furniture, but of a Hepplewhite style.
There was no Hepplewhite period, for the
date of Hepplewhite 's prosperity and influence was
synchronous with the prominence and popularity of
several other important cabinet-makers or designers.
There was, however, a well-defined Hepplewhite style
which enjoyed great favour and vogue and exerted a
powerful and lasting effect upon English and American
mobiliary development.

The eighteenth century is unique with regard to the
making and makers of furniture. Before that time the
maker's name was not associated with the product of
his design or labour ; in fact, his nam.e was not likely
to be known beyond the limited circle in which he lived
and moved and had his being. Likewise, since the close
of the eighteenth century, the name of this or that
cabinet-maker or designer has been of no particular
significance, with one or two exceptions, as signalising
any special mobiliary style. During that charmed
period, however, the very heyday of cabinet-making,
from the time that Thomas Chippendale impressed his
personality upon the British public, and supplied his
patrons with his own adaptations and renderings of
divers antecedent and contemporary styles, the names
of four or five cabinet-makers stand forth preeminently

201

202 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

as masters in their line. The designs of each are char-
acterised by certain distinctive traits that in many cases
serve to fix unmistakably their authorship or, at any
rate, the authorship commonly attributed to them.

In this small company of "joyners" the name of
Hepplewhite occupies a place of distinguished honour.
His designs were widely copied by contemporary
cabinet-makers and he, in turn, doubtless made large
use of types that were current at the period and which
he had no hand in originating. Indeed, the indebted-
ness of Hepplewhite and several of his contemporaries
to ideas supplied in the first place by the Brothers
Adam, is very considerable. It is impossible to say
beyond peradventure that such and such pieces were
made in the Hepplewhite shop in Redcross Street.
Even if one had grounds to make such statements, they
would have a merely antiquarian interest ; for the pur-
pose of identifying styles and assigning them to a popu-
larly accepted name, it is quite immaterial whether
Hepplewhite himself conceived the furniture designs
generally accredited to him, or merely appropriated
the work of others, adding some individual touches of
his own, or perhaps not, as the case might be.

When we speak of Hepplewhite furniture, therefore,
we really mean furniture of the type to which, in the
course df years, the patronymic of that designer has
become attached; his name represents for us not so
much a personality as a fashion.

Of the personal history of George Hepplewhite, of
Cripplegate, we know extremely little. By some he
is believed to have been apprenticed to the cabinet-
maker Gillow, of Lancaster, though of this conclusive
evidence seems lacking, and when we have recorded that

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 203

he conducted his business in the parish of St. Giles,
Cripplegate, and that he died in 1786, we have said
all that may be said with any degree of certainty.

After his death, his business was carried on by his
widow, Dame Alice Hepplewhite, under the title of
"A. Hepplewhite & Co.," and it was under her manage-
ment of the concern that "The Cabinet Maker and
Upholsterer's Guide" was published, first in 1788 and
then again in 1789 and 1794, giving furniture designs
put forth by the establishment and presumably drafted
by Hepplewhite himself or under his direction. In
the editions of 1788 and 1793 of the "Cabinet-makers'
London Book of Prices and Designs of Cabinet Work"
we also find ten designs signed by Hepplewhite.

The Hepplewhite style represents a combination of
influences, all of which are clearly traceable in one
form or another. The Brothers Adam, as we have seen
by their designs, infused into the British public a
taste for clasic forms and classic ornament. They went
directly to classic sources for their inspiration, as we
have also seen, and did not acquire it filtered through
a French medium. This pure classic spirit exerted a
marked influence on the work of Hepplewhite, who, by
the bye, executed many commissions for the Adams and
more than once had to modify their designs to render
them practical and susceptible of workmanlike execu-
tion in wood. The Adam strain of influence is observ-
able in matters of ornamental detail rather than in
form.

Then, again, another marked manifestation of
classic influence came through the French channel of
the Louis Seize style, which affected both form and
detail. It was the Louis Seize style that influenced

204 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

both HepplewMte and Sheraton, but the latter used it
far more as a source of inspiration than did the subject
of this chapter. Indeed, it would not be far wrong
to say that Hepplewhite occupied a middle ground in
design between the Brothers Adam and Sheraton.

Occasionally the inspiration and result — and we are
tempted to believe the model, also — ^were identical in
the case of Hepplewhite and Sheraton. One of the few
exceptions to the rule given in the Introduction to this
book, that pieces of furniture are readily to be ascribed
to their respective styles, is here to be noted : in a few
designs, particularly of chairs and settees, and a few
only, Sheraton copied Hepplewhite or Hepplewhite
copied Sheraton, or both copied the Louis Seize style so
effectively, that for once it is, in these particular cases,
almost impossible to differentiate. In the matter of
sideboards both followed the lead of Shearer and de-
signed pieces in practically the same style, but Sheraton
carried the sideboard to a fuller development than did
Hepplewhite.

One essential item of contrast, however, will always
serve to differentiate clearly the individual styles of
Hepplewhite and Sheraton, no matter how many points
of resemblance they may display in other respects —
Sheraton admired and emphasised the straight line
in every possible place, while Hepplewhite, on the con-
trary, was a faithful exponent of the curvilinear ten-
dency that became so popular in the late seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries. In his chairs, sofas,
and sideboards, curving lines were everywhere notice-
able, and though straight lines were by no means absent,
particularly in some of the cabinet-work, the vertical
and horizontal angularity that distinguished so many

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 205

of Sheraton's designs were not a preponderating
influence. Sheraton's work also exhibits a greater slen-
derness and narrowness throughout. Some of the
Hepplewhite work, particularly his chair-backs, were of
great refinement and grace but, notwithstanding some
indebtedness to Continental models, there always re-
mains that fine English characteristic of sturdiness
which alone among English furniture designers Shera-
ton abandoned for French refinement and delicacy.

During the period of flepplewhite's greatest activ-
ity, the architectural influence of the Brothers Adam
was paramount. The classic style, as they interpreted
it, attained the widest popularity, and the prevailing
interior decorations consisted largely of urns, reeding,
wreaths of flowers, festoons of drapery or husks caught
up by rams' heads, fan ovals, swags and drops of
bell flowers and knots of ribbon. The Adelphi supplied
inspiration to other architects who copied their style
with varying success. It was natural, under the cir-
cumstances, that there should be a demand for furni-
ture for these houses corresponding with the general
mode of architectural decoration, and Hepplewhite and
his contemporaries, following closely the lead of the
Brothers Adam, but also adapting and originating a
great deal of design upon their own initiative, supplied
that ever-increasing demand. Along with this pro-
nounced classic tendency in much of Hepplewhite 's
work, one can detect, at the same time, a strong under-
current both of French tradition and design, particu-
larly noticeable in his adaptations of Louis Seize
models, already alluded to.

His great and lasting popularity and his influence
on the furniture designs of our own day are probably

206 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

attributable, to tbe fact that, in addition to tbe grace
and lightness of his creations, he always manifested
a thoroughly practical and English intention in what-
ever he made, although so many of the additional em-
bellishments to his structural forms were borrowed
directly from Louis Seize originals.

A great quantity of chairs, settees, and much of the
general Hepplewhite work were wrought in mahogany,
for its sterling qualities were too well known for it ever
to be displaced from popular favour, but the Hepple-
white style has always been properly regarded as the
real pioneer exponent and'.populariser of the values
of other and lighter ornamental woods for cabinet-work.
The Brothers Adam, it is true, did employ these woods
in the furniture they designed, but the Hepplewhite
style made such free and constant use of them that the.
credit for their prevalence must be assigned to that
quarter.

The Hepplewhite mode emphatically and consist-
ently demonstrated the value of inlay and colour for
purposes of adornment in distinction from carving
which had reigned supreme all during the Chippen-
dale period (Key XI, 5, and XII, 2) . Satinwood, tulip,
amboyna, sycamore, rosewood, and many more besides
were extensively used, sometimes in combination with
mahogany, and sometimes not, but almost universally
with charming effect. The decorative warmth and
variety of colour thus achieved made an addition of no
mean importance to the varied scope of English furni-
ture possibilitiee.

The whole Hepplewhite influence was for grace,
lightness, and beauty of contour, and in most instances
artistic results were reached. Indeed, the services

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 207

which both he and Sheraton rendered can scarcely
be overestimated for, with the furniture that both of
them designed, there was developed a sense of grace,
buoyancy and freedom that had never before existed
in English interiors; and this same spirit, reflected
on our side of the Atlantic, has given us some of our
choicest heirlooms.

Nevertheless, however much we may admire
Hepple white and his work, it must in fairness be ad-
mitted that his achievements varied greatly in the
degree of merit they possessed. Some of his perform-
ances seem almost inspired and then again they sink
suddenly to the verge of banality. This unevenness of
his genius has been said to be partly due to a lack of
the innate sense of fitness that Chippendale enjoyed
and partly to a lack of the knowledge of design that
Sheraton customarily displayed. Whatever may be
the ultimate cause for his inequalities and occasional
lapses, it is a satisfaction to realise that the majority
of his designs, and the bulk of the work he either exe-
cuted or inspired can take rank very far above the
level of the commonplace.

One reason why Hepplewhite exercised such a
powerful and widespread influence on the development
of English furniture was that he took a large-minded
view of things, was less pedantic in his attitude than
most of his predecessors and contemporaries, was less
harsh in his criticisms of them and their work, and
was willing to publish his designs freely without any
desire "to reserve any benefit accruing from them to
himself." The working cabinet-makers, therefore,
"throughout the Kingdom copied the designs in every
way, sometimes succeeding in imparting to their work

208 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

as much refinement and dignity as was expressed in
the original, but in many other cases falling far short
of the conception. ' '^

His book containing three hundred furniture de-
signs was unquestionably a most valuable addition to
the literature of cabinet-making, and although a critical
examination of its contents, suggests, perhaps, that he
was inferior to Chippendale in a sense of proportion,
facility of adaptation and inventive fertility, and also
that he was not so skilful as Sheraton in the massing
of his ornament, w© cannot help feeling, at the same
time, that he was more fecund in mobiliary expression
and more flexible and free in his conceptions than the
Brothers Adam, notwithstanding their inspiring influ-
ence, by which he, along with others, profited so greatly.

ARTICLES

There is always,necessarily,much similarity between
the list of articles in each chapter, because no sudden
revolutionary changes took place in the habits of our
forefathers to bring the vogue of one piece of furniture
abruptly to an end and replace it immediately by an-
other. A comparison, however, between the different
chapters. wUl reveal the gradual discontinuance of cer-
tain types from period to period, or from style to style
when the popularity of one maker's handiwork shall
be said to constitute a period division. For instance,
if we look first at the inventory of chair- and cabinet-
work in the Chippendale period and then at the list of
articles designed by the Brothers Adam or made by
Hepplewhite, we shall see that the highboys and low-
boys have disappeared in the newer mode and tall

^Olouston: Chippendale.

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 209

chests of drawers, chests on chestsi and presses or
wardrobes have taken the place of one, while more pre-
tentious and fully appointed dressing tables have sup-
planted the other. Tripod furniture, likewise, has prac-
tically disappeared with the trifling exception of such
things as flower stands and gueridons. Bookcases,
sideboards and cabinets, on the other hand, have be-
come objects of much more consideration. The several
articles will be treated in their usual order so that it
will be unnecessary to append here an itemised list.

CXJNTOUR

"What was said of contour in the Adam chapter is
substantially true for this. With the advent of the
Adam influence, we are come to a straight-legged period
and a period when curves are subservient to straight
horizontal and vertical lines. There were plenty of
curved surfaces such as the serpentine fronts of chests
of drawers, tables and sideboards, or the semi-circular
or semi-oval fronts of cabinets, but the top and bottom
lines of these pieces were horizontally straight and their
side lines were vertically straight, so that all the curv-
ing had to be done in one direction. A point of contrast
to be observed between Hepplewhite and Sheraton con-
tour is that in the former the element of concavity, espe-
cially in the fronts of sideboards and chests of drawers,
is emphasised, while in the latter the element of con-
vexity is found instead. There are, to be sure, sporadic
instances where an Adam table was designed with scroll
legs or a Hepplewhite chair with cabriole legs, but they
are rare exceptions and need not concern us.

The foregoing observation, of course, does not apply
to Hepplewhite 's French furniture, which very accu-

210 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

rately followed all the curves of tlie later Louis Quinze
fashion. It is soFrench in character that it is scarcely-
entitled to consideration in this chapter.

The most distinctive note to be observed in Hepple-
white contour, a particular in which neither Adam nor
Sheraton designs share, is the shape of the shield back
(Key XI, 1), hoop back (Key XI, 2) and interlacing
heart (Key XI, 3) back chairs. Hepplewhite made
round and oval (Fig. 1, 2) chair backs, too, but these
are also found in Adam designs.

Fio. 1. Examplea of HeppIewUte Splat, Oval and Bar Backs.

As much alike as Hepplewhite and Sheraton pat-
terns are in many respects, one sharp contrast must be
drawn between the styles. Though both men held to
straight structural lines in their designs of cabinet-
work, and to a very large extent in chair- and table-
work, Hepplewhite is regarded as the exponent of the
curve and Sheraton as the exponent of the straight
line. Hepplewhite introduced his curving lines in chair
backs, seat frames, sofas and settees, the serpentine
fronts of sideboards and cabinet-work and the shapes
of table-tops. How Sheraton, on the contrary, empha-
sised the straight line, we shall see in the Sheraton chap-
ter.. Strange as it may seem in the tracery of the glazed

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 211

«.
doors of bookcases and cabinets (Key XII, 2) the pref-
erence was apparently reversed, for HepplewMte was
disposed to use straight lines, while Sheraton turned to
graceful curves and incidentally showed what a master
of proportion he was. The same is true of panel shapes
in cabinet-work. Sheraton seems to have fallen heir to
the Adam oval and used it to excellent effect, while
Hepplewhite, with his strong predilection for curving
lines, kept, in the main, to rectangular panel shapes.

To Hepplewhite must be credited the popularisation
of the tall French foot (Key XI, 4) for cabinet-work,
with its refined proportions and graceful outward curve
of both sides and angle. Though both men used square
legs and round legs in their table and chair designs,
the square leg (Key XI, 5) may be considered more
typical of Hepplewhite. In the majority of cases,
square or round, and in the designs of both men, legs
are tapered.

CHAIRS

However much Hepplewhite may have been in-
debted to Adam in his other designs, he is decidedly
original in his chair patterns and distinctly practical
as well. The legs of Hepplewhite chairs are prevail-
ingly square, tapered and either with or without the
"collared" toe or spade foot, and either flat or grooved.
In a number of chairs, stretchers are used to brace the
legs, and the front stretcher is recessed. Seats are
ordinarily square, with a slight taper towards the rear
uprights, or else are slightly rounded in front, and the
seat frame is either visible or covered with upholstery.
Eounded seats and also rounded legs occur (Plate
XXVT, p. 210), but the first-mentioned types are more

212 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

characteristic. The square seats are sometimes
' ' dropped ' ' (Key XI, 2) . In the earlier arm-chairs the
arms run out horizontally from the backs to a sharp
angle and then drop with a sweeping curve to join the
tops of the front legs (Plate XXVI, p. 210). In the
later chairs the same contour of arm is preserved but
the supports join outside the seat rails (Key XI, 3) and
are doweUed into the side of the seat frame a little
behind the line of the front legs.

The backs form the most distinctive feature of the
chairsi, and exhibit a broad variety of shape and detail.
The typical forms, however, are the shield (Key XI,
1, and Fig. 2, A, C, E, G, E and 7), the oval (Fig. 1, 2,
and Fig. 2, i^), the interlacing heart (Key XI, 3, and
Fig. 2,B), and the hoop (Key XI, 2 and Fig. 1, and
Fig. 2, D) and all other types, with the exception of
an occasional essay at a square back (Fig. 1, 3), are
but modifications of these. The tops of the shield-back
chairs are of two shapes — either serpentine (Key XI,
1) or with a slight unbroken bowed curve like the top
of a crusader's shield (Fig. 2, E). The latter form is
not common. ' ' Honeysuckle ' ' backs are found in both
the oval and hoop forms (Plate XXVI, p. 210). \,

Hepplewhite backs do not usually join the rear
seat rail but are supported by the extension of the back
legs rising above the seat and curved slightly inward
(Key XI, 1, 2 and 3; Fig. 1; 2 and 3; and Fig. 2, all
except D). Shield-back chair^ are either balustered
(Fig. 1, 3 ; and Fig. 2, E) or barred (Key XI, 1), having
usually five carved and curving balusters or bars con-
verging to a semi-circular rise in the bottom of the
shield or else have some form of central pierced splat
(Fig. 2, A, G, H and 7). In some instances the shield

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE

213

back has only three bars (Fig. 2, C) and in the bow-
topped shields the bars do not curve but are vertical
(Fig. 2,^).

G H I

Fio. 2. Charaoteristio Hepplewhite Chair-back Shapes.

In the splatted shield backs the central splat usually
follows the outline of a vase or lyre (Fig. 2, A, G and
/). There are, of course, other variations in the treat-

214 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

ment of shield backs (Fig. 2, E) but they may easily
be recognised by their general resemblance to the types
just noted.

The oval-backed chairs (Fig. 1, 2, and Fig. 2, F) may
have been inspired by Adam designs, but they were
developed in a thoroughly characteristic and individ-
ual manner. The three feathers of the Prince of "Wales
(Fig. 2, F) were frequently worked into these backs as
a decorative motif, sometimes altogether replacing the
splat, and at other times we have a modification of the
interlacing heart patterns, used as tracery and some-
times a modified lyre form of splat.

In the interlacing heart backs (Key XI, 3, and Fig.
2, jB), the inner sides of the hearts, springing from a
circular segment at the base of the back, take the place
of a splat, and the upper portion, just under the crest,
is often given a fan treatment (Key XI, 3).

The hooped-back chairs are the only ones whose
central splat joins the seat rail at the rear (Fig. 1, and
Fig. 2, D). The back legs project above the seats and
continue in one unbroken line with the cresting. In the
hoop backs the central splat usually follows a vase or
lyre outline. Hoop-back chairs also sometimes have a
wheel motif instead of a splat (Key XI, 2). Ladder-
back chairs were common to the cabinet- and chair-
maker's trade from 1760 to 1790, and Hepplewhite, as
well as others, doubtless made them. Forms are met
with that show characteristic Hepplewhite touches and
details of ornament.

STOOLS

By the time of Hepplewhite 's prosperity stools had
ceased to be fashionable and were not in demand.

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 215

SOFAS AND SETTEES

In Hepplewhite's sofas and settees we meet with
two distinct varieties — the upholstered sofa (Key
XII, 1) with strong French affinities and the chair-back
settee, which was simply a succession of chair backs of
one or the other of the typical forms joined together,
sometimes as many as five being placed in a row of
graduated size. All their characteristics were those of
the chairs and need not be further dwelt upon.

The upholstered sofas had rounded or square legs
like the chairs, but the preference seems to have been
for the former. Backs were simply bowed or else
broken into a number of curves rising towards a crest
in the middle (Key XII, 1). The backs were often
curved round to form the arms, which then dropped
with rapid curve to meet the seat at the top of the
front leg. These sofas usually had eight legs and were
much longer than the older settees of preceding periods.
Another form of long sofa had stuffed and rolled over
arms and an arched back.

WINDOW SEATS

"Window seats were made with rolled over ends and
arched backs like the last-mentioned form of sofa or
else with rolled ends and no backs. Occasionally we find
the seats rounded in the rear and the back curved and
caned and closely resembling some of the Louis Seize
settees. These are late.

DAYBEDS

A form of daybed resembling one end of an uphol-
stered sofa was used, and its lines were distinctly of
French inspiration.

216 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

BEDSTEADS

The ordinary bedsteads in HepplewHte's day had
lost their unwieldy and ponderous superstructure and
were surmounted by a simple tester, which often con-
sisted of merely a pine frame to hang the valances and
curtains from (Key XII, 4), Hepplewhite and Shera-
ton pUlars bore a close resemblance to each other, but
those of Hepplewhite were apt to be of heavier propor-
tions and have square or slightly-tapered bases (Key
XII, 4 and 5). The upper portion of the posts tapered
gradually to the top and was often embellished with
delicate spiral wreathing running about the reeding.
Acanthus or water leaf ornament usually adorned the
lower part of the upper section. Sometimes the top
part of the posts was merely fluted.

TABLES

Tables were of great number and variety. First of
all, there were range tables in sections. The end sec-
tions were semi-circular and often had a drop leaf on
the side. These two ends, along with other rectangular
tables of similar pattern placed between them, were
often put together to make long dining tables (Plate
XXVII, p. 216). Then there were the semi-circular
(Key XI, 5), semi-oval or serpentine-fronted side
tables, which were meant to stand beneath mirrors or
between windows. Then again, there were the card
tables with serpentine or bowed fronts and a folding
leaf that either lay flat on its companion half of the top
or stood up against the wall when not in use.

There were also the Pembroke tables with two rect-
angular drop leaves, a drawer at the ends in the under
framing and squared tapered legs with spade feet.

END SECTION OF MAHOGANY INI,AID HEPPLEWHITE

HAXGE TABLE, TAPERED LEG AND BANDED ANCLE

In poasessiou of Harold D. Eberlcin, I'-sq.

MAHOGANY INLAID SERPENTINE FRONT HEPPLEWHITE

SIDEBOARD, TAPERED LEG AND SPADE FOOT

By Courtesy of Mr. Richard W. Lehne, Philadelphia

PLATE XXVII

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 217

Besides these there were little work tahles, either
square or octagonal, with drawers, and a drop bottom
suspended from the lower drawer. There were writing
tables (Plate XXV, p. 204) for the library, with tiers of
drawers on either side and a knee space in the centre.
Last of all, there were special tables, such as drinking
tables, which it will not be necessary to discuss, as they
were not typical.

CHESTS OF DRAWEES

Chests of drawers were of two types, the high or
two-sectional kinds and the low (Key XI, 4) or one-
section variety, which, with a mirror hung back of it,
or placed on a small stand on top of it, was used for
dressing purposes, and may be regarded as the direct
prototype of the modern bureau.

The low chests had four or five drawers and were
either straight or had serpentine (Key XI, 4) fronts.
The plinth or base was often shaped in graceful lines
and the feet were usually of the French type. Drawers
were frequently surrounded with cock beading (Key
XI, 4).

In the two-section chests of drawers the upper por-
tion would be receded slightly and contain four or five
drawers, there frequently being two or three small
drawers instead of one at the top. The tops were
ordinarily straight and the cornice was not overly
prominent, but finely moulded.

WHITING FURNITURE

The writing furniture possessed considerable
variety. Besides the writing tables (mentioned in the
section on tables) there was the cabinet desk supported

218 PRACTICAL BOOK OP PEEIOD FURNITURE

on four legs (Key XII, 3). The front puUed down and
was supported by quadrants at the side. The top was a
cabinet or bookcase with glazed and traceried doors.

There was also the secretary bookcase (Fig. 3),
often made in three sections, of which the central part,
slightly projecting beyond the side, contained the writ-
ing facilities. The lower portion was given over to

Q/ — vO Or

b" — ^o &■

Hi.?

\OC>

,P Oj — ^p

^(3^

-^''^

o^— ^

c5^

■\^

■!4J'

■OJ-

FiQ. 3. Secretary Bookcase.

drawers or cupboards, and a deep drawer front pulled
down, supported by quadrants, to form the desk. The
upper portion had glazed doors. The top was usuaUy
straight, but was sometimes embellished with an arched
cornice.

There were also secretaries with the lower portion
like a chest of drawers (Key XH, 2), the upper drawer
front pulling down to make a desk, and the upper por-
tion, set back somewhat, forming a cabinet or cupboard.

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 219

Then again, there were the four-legged desks with pull-
over tambour tops, and with or without a low cupboard
on top — the precursor of the modem roll-top desk.
Last of all, there was the old type of slant-top desk with
drawers beneath and bookcase on top.

CABINETS AND CUPBOAEDS

The three-cornered cupboard and also the rectangu-
lar china cupboard of ordinary pattern were made by
HepplewMte, the distinctive features being hisi method
of embellishment and his proportions. The lower part
usually had panelled doors and the upper doors were
glazed, the divisions being usually of straight lines,
vertical, horizontal or diagonal. Some of the small
cabinets stood on legs.

SIDEBOAEDS

To Shearer really belongs the credit of introducing
the sideboard in its present form and of making it some-
thing more than merely a table. Hepplewhite, however,
adopted Shearer's idea and so habitually made side-
boards of this type that he is usually given the credit
of originating it (Key XI, 6). It was a most graceful
piece of furniture, stood on four or six legs, and ordi-
narily had a shaped front. The chief point of differ-
ence between the sideboards of this type designed by
Hepplewhite and Sheraton is that the Hepplewhite
sideboards had the serpentine front, while the Sheraton
sideboards usually had a bowed front swelling out from
rectangular comers. In other points, even to the type
of decoration, the tambour work in the higher central
portion and the details of inlay decoration they were
often precisely alike (Plate XXVII, p. 216).

220 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

WARDROBES AND CLOTHES PRESSES

Wardrobes were made in one or three sections,
though rarely with single doors extending the full
height. The more usual form was the clothes-press
type with either drawers or cupboards in the lower sec-
tion and taller doors in the upper part. Tops were both
straight and adorned with arched cornice or scrolled
pediment.

CONSOLE CABINETS

Console cabinets were formal pieces of furniture
of semi-circular or semi-oval front, straight sides and
straight top, were highly embellished, made of the finest
woods and were meant to stand beneath mirrors or
between windows. The form shown in Key X, 5, is
typical of the whole genus.

MIRRORS

During Hepplewhite's ascendency mirrors were
usually of the somewhat elaborate Adam type and it
would be incorrect to style any particular form as
specifically characteristic of Hepplewhite's mode. The
elaborate mirrors of Chippendale pattern also re-
mained ia high favour to the end of the century.

CLOCKS

By this time the type of tall case clocks had become
crystallised and the only significant differences to be
found were in the details of ornament.

MATERIALS

Hepplewhite used a wide variety of materials which
included :

Mahogany. This he used to a very large extent in

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 221

both cabinet and chair work and almost always where a
surface was to be embellished with carving.

Satinwood was used where painting was to be em-
ployed as an adornment.

Beech was used for chairs, tables, settees, and the
like, that were to be painted and parcel gilt.

Amboyna was used for veneering and fine panel
work.

Thuja and Kingwood were used for purposes of
inlay.

Sycamoee ob Harewood was used both for body and
veneer.

TuLipwooD, Holly and Ebony were used to inlay
and banding, as was also rosewood.

Pine and Limewood were employed as ground work
for veneered surfaces and also for some of the carved
work that was to be gilt.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

Decorative processes made use of by Hepplewhite
were painting, inlay and marqueterie, carving, turning,
gUding, Japanning or lacquer and veneer.

Painting was a resource Hepplewhite relied much
upon for the embellishment of his finer pieces of work.
In his preference for painting over inlay is to be noted
a poLut of contrast with Sheraton (Key XI, 5, and
Xn, 2). Panels by Angelica Kauffmann, Cipriani,
Pergolesi and others were used to adorn cabinets,
chairs, and other objects upon which elaborate decora-
tion was lavished.

Inlay and Maeqtjeteeie. Hepplewhite 's preference
for painting did not, however, prevent his using inlay
as well in the decoration of his table tops, console cabi-

222 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

nets, chairs, sideboards, and bookcases. Marqueterie
he employed to some extent in his work of English type
but much more freely in his furniture designed "in the
French taste," the design of which was inspired by
the late period of Louis Quinze patterns.

Caeving of great elaboration and delicacy of de-
tail was used for the mahogany furniture, especially
chairs, tables, and console cabinets.

TuENiNG was used but almost always in conjunction
with carving, and as a preparation for some other
process of elaboration.

Gilding was used for painted furniture and also
to some extent in combination with mahogany carved
furniture.

Japanning and Lacqueb at this period are. to be dif-
ferentiated. Japanning indicated giving the object to
be decorated a ground coat of paint upon which the
design was applied. Lacquer indicated the old process
used since the latter part of the seventeenth century.

Vbneee of mahogany, amboyna, and other mellow-
coloured woods, was freely employed by Hepplewhite
to obtain the desired effects of design.

TYPES OF DECORATIVE DESIGN

The types of decorative design to be found in
Hepplewhite furniture include all the classic motifs
introduced by the Brothers Adam. Among these we
find floral swags, acanthus leaves, pendent husks, round
and oval paterae, water leaf, sundry architectural de-
tails and rams' heads. Besides these we find reeding,
fluting, beading, pearling, spandrel fans, rosettes, and
ribbons. Designs that were particularly distinctive
of Hepplewhite furniture were the three Prince of

HEPPLEWHITE CARVED -MAHOGANY BEDSTEAD, FLUTED POSTS AND UNDERCUT

FLORAL WREATHING
By Courtesy of Mrs. Samuel D. Riddle, Glen Riddle, Pa.
PLATE XXVnl

GEORGE HEPPLEWHITE 223

Wales feathers, ears of wheat, and the lyre motif, the
last-named of which Sheraton appropriated.

STRUCTUEE'

In structure Hepplewhite furniture was superior to
the designs originated by the Brothers Adam. This
was noticeable in the chairs more than in any other
instance. As previously noted, Hepplewhite 's chairs in
most cases had no supporting junction of splat and seat
rail, but some Adam backs arose merely from the seat
rail without support of uprights. Carcase work was
mainly rectilinear, with the exception of the shaped
fronts of console cabinets, chests of drawers, and side-
boards.

MOUNTS

The brass mounts used during the Hepplewhite pe-
riod were of delicate and beautiful design. Back plates
of handles were oval, oblong, octagonal and round. Key-

B C

Fig. 4. Hepplewhite Mounts.

plates were small and usually consisted of a diamond-
shaped piece of ivory set flush with the woodwork.
Otherwise, a flush band of brass was used around the
keyhole. Brass knobs, chased or engraved, were also
used, as well as bail handles. The central portion of
back plates for handles frequently consisted of a medal-
lion on which classic scenes were embossed.

224 PEACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

FINISH

Hepplewhite mahogany furniture was given the
same finish as other contemporary pieces. Full partic-
ulars will be found in preceding chapters and in the
Sheraton chapter.

The painted furniture and satinwood pieces were
sometimes treated with other preparations.

CHAPTER IX

LOUIS SEIZE
1774-1793

BEFOEE the youthful Louis XVI and his still
more youthful spouse ascended the throne
of France, the mobiliary style that we know
as "Louis Seize" had already ripened into a tjrpe
sufficiently characteristic to be plainly distinguished
from the modes of furniture expression inseparably as-
sociated with the reign of the fifteenth Louis. During
the twenty years preceding the tragic downfall of the
ancien regime and the brutal murder of the king and
queen, the style of furniture that was rising into high
favour prior to the last quarter of the eighteenth cen-
tury attained its consummate development and reached
the high-water mark of artistic excellence in design and
execution in the field of Gallic effort.

Charming as the work of this period is in itself, it is
of especially significant interest to us because of the
influence it had upon the designs of Thomas Sheraton —
the inspiration and wealth of decorative motifs it sup-
plied him from which he evolved by discriminating
adaptation what is unquestionably one of the most
beautiful and graceful phases of furniture develop-
ment in England and America, the last great phase, in
fact, that marked the full fruition of the rich and varied
mobiliary history of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies. With this process of ingenious adaptation
Sheraton incorporated a goodly measure of his own

15 225

226 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

individuality. After Sheraton, Duncan Phyfe, the
American Sheraton, made large use of Louis Seize
motifs — ^whether derived through the medium of Sher-
aton's designs or directly from the French models, it
matters not^and thereby contributed the best and
truest element in the work of the American Empire
period.

In a previous chapter we have said that the Brothers
Adam anticipated in their designs the classic spirit
manifested in the Louis Seize period. The breath of a
renewed and revivified classicism was in the air. The
impetus toward this classic trend in design was
strengthened by the results of the excavations and re-
searches at Herculaneum and Pompeii, which attracted
profound attention in the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury. The interpretation of classic motifs and expres-
sion in the designs of the Adelphi was quite indepen-
dent of any French medium, but the taste and effort at
realisation were coincident and nearly synchronous on
both sides of the Channel. Hepplewhite derived mpst
of his classic feeling from the designs of the Adams but
he also drew a measure of inspiration from contem-
porary French furniture. Sheraton, on the other hand,
was far more deeply.influenced by Louis Seize models,
and in order to understand and appreciate him fully it
is necessary to know somewhat of the type to which he
was so largely a debtor. For this reason the Louis
Seize chapter has been placed just before the Shera-
ton chapter and after the chapter on Hepplewhite, who
occupied a middle ground between the Adelphi and
Sheraton.

An examination of Louis Seize furniture and a sub-
sequent comparison with Sheraton's designs will re-

LOUIS SEIZE SOFA, ARM-CHAIR AND STOOL
By Courtesy of Mr. C, J. Charles, of London and New York

PLATE XXIX

LOUIS SEIZE 227

veal a striking similarity, not only in decorative motifs,
but even in contour. These points of resemblance will
be noted under their appropriate heads.

AETICLES

The articles of furniture in use during the Louis
Seize period are practically the same as those listed
in the chapter devoted to Louis Quatorze and Louis
Quinze. The catalogue includes chairs, stools or ta-
bourets, canapes or sofas, bedsteads, tables, consoles,
cabinets, commodes, armoires, bureaux or escritoires,
cartoimiers, torcheres, mirrors, and clocks.

CONTOUR

In the Louis Seize period there was a noticeable
return to rectilinear principles in the design of furni-
ture. Vertical and horizontal lines were emphasised
and some of the cabinet-work possessed a distinctly
perpendicular aspect. While curved surfaces did not
altogether disappear from cabinet-work, carcases were
in the main rectilinear. Although the amenity of curves^
in the shapes of chair seats, backs and arms and in the
rounding of comers was not disdained, the legs of
tables, chairs, sofas, stools and cabinets were almost
altogether straight, . and the same may be said of
str etcher s_mbere they occur. Legs and stretchers dis-
playing curves were only the exceptions that proved
the rule. Had it not been for the grace of well-placed
embellishment, not a little of the furniture might have
been open to the charge of angularity. As it was, how-
ever, ornament was so adroitly disposed that it en-
hanced the classic purity of structural lines without the
loss of distinction resulting from superfluity.

228 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

CHAIRS

Like all other furniture of the period, the chairs
displayed greater purity and restraint of line than had
been characteristic of the florid types prevalent during
much of the preceding reign. The saccharine Louis
Quinze curves in backs, arms, seats and legs were re-
placed by straight lines or the simple curves incident to
rounded corners or circular or oval backs.

Fig. 1. Louis Seize Arm-ohair.
By Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Backs were both carved and upholstered. Uphol-
stered backs were square (Fig. 1) with straight top
rails, approximately square, with a raised or arched
top (Plate XXIX, p. 226, and Fig 2), hoop- shaped, the
top being rounded, and wholly oval or round, in the
latter case the supporting uprights adjoining the lower
part being prolongations of the back legs in the manner

LOUIS SEIZE 229

of Hepplewhite back supports. Caned backs followed
the same general line as upholstered backs. Wooden
or carved backs were often hoop- or "balloon "-shaped,
or else made in the form of a lyre. In the hoop-backed
or "balloon "-backed chair there was a vertically
pierced splat while the strings in the lyre backs ful-
filled the functions of a splat.

Fig. 2. Louia Seize Arm-chair.
By Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

In arm-chairs the abms either sprung horizontally
at an angle from the uprights of the back or else fell
away from them in a single curve (Fig. 2, and Plate
XXIX, p. 226). In either case the arms were not shaped
but came forward in a straight line to join at right
angles the supports that came straight up as exten-
sions of the front legs (Fig. 2). When the supports
were not vertical and continuations of the front legs,
they swept forward in a single curve from the end

230 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

of the arm to the top of the leg at the line of the seat
rail.

Seats were either round or square or approximately-
square with rounded corners or shaped fronts.

Legs were straight and round, fluted, reeded or
turned or square and carved or fluted and in all cases
were tapered.

STOOLS AOT) TABOURETS

Stools and tabourets were made on principles
analogous to those of the chairs, with which they were
made to correspond.

CANAP:fes OE SOFAS

Sofas or canapes were executed in considerable
variety, but all followed the principles noted in the
section on chairs. Some of the sofas were short, such
as that shown in Plate XXIX, p. 226, the back being
upholstered and the arms free, like those of arm-chairs.
The back also was supported by continuations of the
rear legs, shaped like Hepplewhite chair-back supports.
Other sofas were long, such as that shown in Plate
XXX, p. 232, were supported on light legs, and both
back and sides or arms were upholstered. In this
illustration the small conical finials capping the back
supports should be especially noted, as Sheraton em-
ployed this item of ornamentation on his chairs again
and again.

BEDSTEADS

The bedsteads of this period frequently had high
head-boards or both head-boards and foot-boards, with
straight tops, sometimes with a carved cresting in the
middle and sometimes without. The legs were con-
tinued upward as supports for the head- and foot-

LOUIS SEIZE 231

boards and were usually fluted or carved and capped
with some carved device such as acanthus leaves. The
canopies, often used with these bedsteads, were entirely
separate constructions.

TABLES

The various sorts of tables in use at this period or-
dinarily had straight tapered legs, either round or
square. They were made both with and without
stretchers, which were sometimes flat and shaped, some-
times rising. Eectangular tables occur more frequently
than round or oval tables.

CONSOLES, CABINETS AND COMMODES

Consoles, cabinets and commodes were made in
great number and in great diversity of patterns, but in
them aU the same vertical aspect and the same recti-
linear tendency prevailed, notwithstanding occasional
departures from the usual type.

ARMOIRES

Armoires or wardrobes were vehicles for great
elegance of construction and elaborate ornamentation,
but require no especial comment, inasmuch as they
adhered mainly to the prevalent rectilinear and per-
pendicular tendencies characteristic of the period.

BUREAUX, ESCRITOIRES AND CARTONNIERS

The writing furniture of the Louis Seize period was
quite as varied in form as that of the preceding reign.
Expense was lavished upon the sundry pieces, both in
point of elegant materials and intricacy of ornamen-
tation. Many of the large cylinder or roll-top desks
were both ingenious and beautiful, while not a few of

232 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

tlie •writing-tables, escritoires and cartonniers achieved
the acme of daintiness. The contour of all this furni-
ture coincided with the lines already noted in other
cabinet-work.

toech5;rbs and mirrors
The torcheres, mirrors and other small furniture
accorded in design with other mobiliary forms, and
require no special comment beyond the observation
that they were usually subjects for lavish but tasteful
embellishment.

CLOCKS

Clocks continued to be adorned with exquisite and
intricate work, applied with the sundry decorative proc-
esses in vogue at the time. They were almost uni-
versally of the mantel variety and were not impos-
ing creations in point of size.

MATERIALS

The materials used during the Louis Quinze period
covered a wide range in variety. "Walnut, mahogany,
oak and satinwood were, of course, employed but, in
addition to these, every other precious or ornamental
wood known to cabinet-makers seems to have been
requisitioned for the enrichment of the exquisite fur-
niture produced in this heyday of Gallic mobiliary
design.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

Corresponding with the variety of materials used
was the variety of decorative processes the cabinet-
makers availed themselves of. Scarcely one process
could be named that was not employed by them in one
form or another, and it would be of no avail merely
to enumerate a list without entering into a detailed

p s

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P
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LOUIS SEIZE 233

consideration of the subject that would alone require
almost a volume. In the matter of upholstery, the most
exquisite Aubusson, Beauvais and Gobelin tapestries
were freely used, as were also the most elaborate bro-
cades and other stuffs.

TYPES OF DECORATION

The types of decoration confound one by their be-
wildering multiplicity and fairly defy complete tabula-
tion in brief compass. It must suffice, therefore, for
our present purpose if attention be directed to a few
of the nagre conspicuous and characteristic motifs made
use of.^^ the carving in both high and low relief, in
painting and lacquer, in inlay and marqueterie and,
in fact, in every process of embellishment we see con-
stantly recurring floral wreaths and ribbons, baskets
of flowers, acanthus, celery, pastoral and musical em-
blems, laurel, acorns and oak leaves, guilloche patterns
and rosettes, chequering and diaper-work, thistles,
arabesques, myrtle, lyres, pendent husks, vases, urns
and sundry other classic details. Bound medallions,
paterae and ovals were peculiarly characteristic forms.
Heads, busts and human figures were also extensively
used. Fluting^reeding, pearling and beading, too, were
much in vogueW A good deal of spiral turning occurs
on legs of tahles and chairs. In panelling the comers
were often "broken" and paterae inserted at the
breaks. In textiles for upholstery and draperies, the
silks, figured satins, brocades, muslins, Persian and In-
dian damasks and velvets, we find abundance of
pastoral and floral devices and later a strong pre-
dilection for stripes. The popularity and persistent use
of stripes led Mercier to say that "everybody in the

234 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

King's chamber looks like a zebra." The colouring
of the fabrics was usually light and dainty and in the
decoration of all sorts there was apparent an unusual
degree of delicacy and finesse of proportion.

STEUCTURE
The structure of Louis Seize furniture besides being
staunch was well considered to meet strain at the
proper points so that it possessed the double advantage
of strength and delicacy of proportion. Many of the
makers contrived ingenious mechanical devices which
they incorporated in the cabinet-work.

MOUNTS

Although the mounts had ceased to dominate the
design and structure of furniture they continued to
supply a legitimate place in the work of embellishment.
Brass, bronze and ormolu mounts of most elaborate
pattern supplied a resource of enrichment of which
nothing else could take the place.

FINISH

The familiar French method of polishing with
shellac was mainly used to impart a high and lasting
finish to the woodwork not adorned with paint or
lacquer.

CHAPTER X

THOMAS SHERATON
1750-1806

WE have said in the chapter on Hepplewhite
that it would not be right to speak of an
"Hepplewhite Period." It would be quite
as incorrect to speaJs of a "Sheraton Period" and for
precisely the same reason. "While Sheraton was putting
forth his books of designs, which were extensively made
use of, not only in England but also on the Continent,
the furniture designed and made by his contemporaries
was also holding a large share of the popular esteem.
Nevertheless, during the last decade of the eighteenth
century and for the first few years of the nineteenth we
must regard Sheraton's as the paramount influence that
dominated the style of English and, of course, of
American furniture of the best type.

Thomas Sheraton was bom at Stockton-on-Tees
in 1750 and migrated to London in 1790, dying there
in 1806. Although a carver and cabinet-maker by trade,
it is quite probable that during his life in London he
actually produced little if any furniture, as his time
was too much taken up by his various occupations as
Baptist preacher, tractarian, drawing-master, designer
and publisher, to bestow any large amount of attention
upon the manufacture or superintendence of cabinet-
work. The greater part, therefore, if not all, of the
furniture made in his shop was in all likelihood pro-
duced before he moved up to London. For this reason
we must consider him, at least during his later years, a

235

236 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

designer rather titan a maker. It is perfectly reason-
able to suppose, however, that many of the -designs
he afterwards published had been executed and their
excellence proved previously. Certain it is that the
directions laid down for workmen in the pages of the
"Drawing Book" show that the author possessed a
thorough mastery over the minutest practical working
details of his trade.

Sheraton published his "Cabinet Maker and Uphol-
sterer's Drawing Book" first in 1791 and then again
in 1793 and 1802. The "Cabinet Maker's Dictionary"
followed in 1803 and in 1804 was begun the "Cabinet
Maker, Upholsterer and General Artist's Encyclo-
pedia" but never finished. He was the last of the
great furniture designers of the eighteenth century and
"lived to see all beauty vanish from English furni-
ture" ^ in the deluge of vulgar ugliness and banality
that poured in as a consequence of aping French
Empire styles, a source of inspiration not to be com-
mended at its best.

The representative Sheraton type of furniture, as
we are accustomed to understand it, was based entirely
on his first book and richly deserves all the distinction
and originality he claims for it. In his later books there
is a marked and rapid deterioration in the quality of
the designs given. Whether it was because Sheraton
was failing in inspiration, or because he was trying to
accommodate his designs to a popular taste that clam-
oured loudly for the latest French forms, it would be
hard to say. It was probably the latter, for one who
had produced types of such artistic excellence a few
years before could scarcely sink to such depths of

*Clouston: Chippendale.

MAHOGANY LATE SHERATON SIDEBOARD (American)
By Courtesy of Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem, Mass.

INLAID MAHOGANY SHERATON SIDEBOARD WITH TAMBOUR WORK
AND METAL GALLERY
By Courtesy of Messrs. Maple & Co., Tottenham Court Road, London
PLATE XXXI

THOMAS SHERATON 237

impoverished invention independently of some extra-
neous cause. This inference is supported by the pathetic
laments he utters, as early as 1802, that "a clumsy
four-footed stool from France will be admired by our
connoisseurs in preference to a first-rate cabinet of
English production" or that the British public has
brought to pass this deplorable state of affairs by ' ' fool-
ishly staring after French fashions ' ' instead of giving
"suitable encouragement to designers and artists" in
England. "Instead of this," he says, "when our
tradesmen are desirous to draw the best customers to
their warerooms, they hasten over to Paris, or other-
wise pretend to go there, plainly indicating either our
own defects in cabinet-making, or extreme ignorance,
that we must be pleased and attracted by the mere
sound of French taste."

So bad were his later designs, so jejune in character
and so impregnated with a debased French feeling that
it seems almost unfair, and is certainly prejudicial to
a clear understanding of types, to attach Sheraton's
name to them. We shall, therefore, pass them by with
scant notice in this chapter and reserve them for con-
sideration in the pages devoted to the English Empire
style where they properly belong.

Sheraton's "Drawing Book," the publication upon
which his claims to a distinctive style are wholly based,
was a most important and valuable addition to the
literature of cabinet-making. Unfortunately a fair-
minded reader cannot fail to be annoyed and repelled
by the disparaging and acrid attitude he assumes to-
wards the designs and achievements of his predecessors
and contemporaries, of whom he speaks uncharitably
and contemptuously. Chippendale's designs he brands

238 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

as "now wholly antiquated and laid aside;" Manwar-
ing's book contains nought "but what an apprentice
boy may be taught by seven hours' proper instruc-
tions;" for some of Shearer's work he did, indeed,
express measured admiration and proved the sin-
cerity of his admiration by adopting and really im-
proving some of his designs; but of Hepplewhite,
the designer between whose plans and his own there
was the closest similarity, a similarity positively per-
plexing at times, he says, while grudgingly conceding
that a few of the designs in his book "are not without
merit," "if we compare some of the designs, particu-
larly the chairs, with the newest taste, we shall find
that this work has already caught the decline, and per-
haps, in a little time will suddenly die in the disorder."
This of a volume published but five years before his
own and said of a man whose work and the enduring
favour it has enjoyed have proved the error of Shera-
ton's judgment!

In his ideals and consistent fidelity to the sources
of his best inspirations, Sheraton was far more of a
classicist than Hepplewhite, while in his admiration for
geometrical forms and principles he anticipated, in a
sane, agreeable and well-mannered way, the ultra-
modern cubistic tendency in furniture designing as
exemplified in some of the recent Grerman styles. He
was, in very truth, the champion and exponent of the
straight line in furniture-making, and his vertical ten-
dency is one of the most strongly distinctive character-
istics of the pieces he designed. While he was indebted
to sundry sources for the springs of his inspiration, he
drew most copiously from the classic Eenaissance forms
as interpreted in the Louis Seize style. So closely does

THOMAS SHERATON 239

much of his work resemble its Gallic prototype that
Sheraton furniture has sometimes been dubbed
"English Louis Seize. ' '

But though it is true that Sheraton studied French
fashions in furniture more closely than any of his prede-
cessors, he, nevertheless, before the day of his decadence
set in, clothed all his designs with such a distinctively
individual form that his originality cannot be chal-
lenged. He "translated" French furniture forms into
good, idiomatic English and added something of grace
in the process that was not there before. His orig-
inality is chiefly evident in his chair designs, while in
cabinet-work he appears rather as a correcter and
reviser of the styles in common use in his time. "Witness
his treatment of certain Shearer designs. He was
possessed of the keenest critical insight in matters per-
taining to cabinet-making, combined with an excellent
sense of proportion, sound judgment and purity of
taste, so that his influence was based on the most ster-
ling qualifications. It is to his reconstructive and
critical position, no doubt, that much of the confusion
between some of his work and Hepplewhite 's is attribu-
table, for he did not hesitate to borrow and slightly
alter designs by the joiner of Cripplegate while affect-
ing to despise both him and them.

Sheraton was particularly the champion of inlay
(Key XIV, 5 ; Plate XXXI and XXXII, pp. 236, 240) as
against pednted furniture, which he considered perish-
able, an objection reasonable enough in certain cases,
but by no means of universal application. Indeed, Sher-
aton's designs were often intended for such decora-
tion, notwithstanding his predilection for inlay instead
(Key XIII, 4; Plate XXXIII,p. 244, and Fig. 1, B).

240 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Sheraton's meclianical ingenuity and versatility of
contrivance were remarkable, and some of the com-
bination pieces of furniture he devised fill us with
amazement if not altogether with admiration. Many of
them may be said to belong to the multum in parvo
type and were called forth in response to a common
demand at the end of the eighteenth century for furni-
ture whose real purpose might be readily disguised by
its outward appearance or which might unite two
utterly different uses under one aspect. This was be-
cause of the custom then obtaining of often using the
bedroom during the day as a parlour. Consequently
folding bedsteads, washstands that might be made into
bookcases, conches that might be metamorphosed into
tables at the touch of a spring, and many more such
ingenious devices, were highly esteemed and sought for.

Notwithstanding his fondness for contriving these
intricate mechanical surprises — or shall we call them
disguises? — Sheraton's whole influence, so far as form
was concerned, made for greater simplicity, one might
almost say severity, of line and restraint in the placing
and quantity of carved decoration. Indeed, simplicity
of outline may be considered one of the most salient
traits of his work. He sedulously eschewed the graceful
curving lines so characteristic of the Hepplewhite style
and confined himself almost entirely to straight lines.
Much of his work might be said to be executed in a
"perpendicular" mode (Key XIV, 3 and 5, and Kate
XXXII, p. 240), a term particularly applicable to some
of the pieces presenting an unmistakably "high shoul-
dered" as well as graceful aspect.

Whether he thus cultivated the straight line from a
desire to strike into an untrodden field, from artistic

THOMAS SHERATON 241

conviction or, perchance, with a view to avoiding some
of the constructional difficulties imposed upon cabinet-
makers by the rounded forms, we cannot certainly say.
"Whatever may have been his motive, the result was
most satisfying from both artistic and practical con-
siderations. In his square chair backs, for example,
it mattered not whether Sheraton filled them with verti-
cal balusters (Fig. 1, C), diagonal lattices (Fig. 1, H)
of geometrical severity or ornate splats (Fig. 1, A
and B) that might more fitly be called fretted panels,
for they usually filled one-third of the entire back or
even more, the distribution of ornament was always
well balanced and gave an impression of both staunch-
ness and repose. And it was so, indeed, with almost
everything he did. By a most skilful manipulation of
his straight lines and a due proportioning of his masses
he succeeded in imparting to all his designs a remark-
able sense of dignity and refinement, and we may well
admire the furniture produced when he was in the
heyday of his powers. Its delicacy of outline and detail
render this furniture eminently fit for reception rooms,
boudoirs and small salons, where it might well take the
place of the modern adaptations of Louis Seize fur-
niture so greatly at present overdone.

ARTICLES

Besides the usual tale of household articles that we
expect to find enumerated — a list which it is scarcely
necessary to rehearse in detail — Sheraton designed, as
previously stated, many ingenious multum in parvo
pieces of furniture and also brought sideboards to their
highest stage of perfection. Otherwise the items to be
considered are the same as in the Hepplewhite chapter.

242 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

The objects of standard household use will be dealt with
in their regular rotation, so that further specific allu-
sion is not needed at this point.

CONTOUR

Much ref esence has been necessarily made to Shera-
ton characteristics of contour in the Hepplewhite chap-
ter, for the designs of the two men are so closely parallel
(Key XIV, 1, and Key XI, 6) in many respects that it
is not only natural to consider them jointly by compari-
son but well nigh impossible to avoid doing so. There
is no occasion to repeat what has been said before of
peculiarities of contour common to both. We shall,
therefore, call attention only to points of difference.
Sheraton, as already stated, is regarded as the exponent
of the straight line and his preference for the straight
line he emphasised very distinctly in his chair-back
designs, nearly all of which were severely rectangular
(Key XIII, 1-6 ; Figs 1 and 2). When he was not using
vertical or horizontal lines he could and did use diag-
onal lines with telling effect. He rejoiced in perpen-
dicular effects, and much of the Sheraton cabinet-work
has a high-shouldered appearance (Key XIV, 5, and
Plate XXXII, p. 240), due to emphatic perpendicular
lines of contour and tall proportions. Legs were often
slender almost to tenuity (Plates XXXI and XXXIV,
pp. 236 and 248) but never were they ill proportioned.
Sheraton knew exactly when to stop paring proportions
down. We have said that both Hepplewhite and Shera-
ton used square and round legs for chairs and tables and
also that the square tapered leg might be considered
as typical of Hepplewhite designs. In the same way the
round, tapered and reeded legs (Plate XXXI, p. 236)

THOMAS SHERATON 243

may be considered as characteristic of Sheraton. By
reedings and fluting in the stiles of cabinet-work and in
the legs and edges of tables (Figs. 5 and 6) and chairs
Sheraton added not a little to the perpendicular aspect
of his furniture.

Sheraton's use of curving tracery (Fig. 7) for
glazed doors has been noted, but attention must be
called to another particular in which he employed curv-
ing lines — the scroll swan-neck pediments with which
some of the bookcases, cabinets and presses were sur-
mounted and which Sheraton used to a greater extent
than Hepplewhite. Sheraton also made more use of
stretchers than Hepplewhite, and in the tables the
stretchers are apt to be set saltire wise (Fig. 4). The
differing and inferior contour of furniture during
Sheraton's decadent stage will not be considered, for
such furniture ought not to be known by the name of
Sheraton.

CHAIRS

Sheraton was quite as successful in the designing
of chairs as was Hepplewhite. His mostdistinctive crea-
tion was the square back (Key XIII ; Figs. 1 and 3) . By
a skilful manipulation of his straight lines he succeeded
in imparting to his chairs, and other articles as well,
a remarkable sense of dignity and refinement. What-
ever may have been his motive in confining himself
almost exclusively to straight liues, the result was
highly satisfying from both artistic and practical con-
siderations. It is to be particularly noted that Sheraton
had a fine sense of proportion and that in all his work,
but especially in the embellishment of his chair backs,
the distribution of ornament is always well balanced

244 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

) Q Q Q

Fia. 1. Characteristic Sheraton Chair Backs.

and contributes to the general impression of stauncli-
ness and repose.

Legs were either square and tapered with the sur-
faces flat or grooved (Key XHI, 2) or else round,

THOMAS SHERATON 245

turned snd fluted or reeded (Key XIII, 1 and 4), also
with a perceptible taper towards the foot. Stretchers,
though of occasional occurrence, were not commonly
used. Seats were square, with a taper towards the back
uprights (Key XIII, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ; Fig. 2) or rounded
in front and at the fore part of the sides (Key XIII, 1).
Sometimes the square seats had either a slightly bowed
or serpentine front (Key XIII, 4 and 5).

The arms, slightly shaped from their junction with
the back uprights (Key XIII, 4 and 6; Fig. 2; and
Plate XXXIII, p. 244), came forward in a straight line
horizontally, and at a right angle (Key XIII, 4) were
doweUed to a vase-shaped baluster support (Key XIII,
4 and 7; Fig. 3, and Plate XXXIII, p. 244) which was
either an extension of the front legs (Key XIII, 7 ; Fig,
3, and Plate XXXni, p. 244), or rose from the side
rails of the seat frame a little back from the front (Key
Xni, 4; Fig. 2, A). Another form of arm support is
shaped and moulded in a receding curve from the tops
of the front legs to the fore ends of the arm. In some
of the later chairs the fore end of the arm curves
rapidly down, and, in unbroken line, joins the support
formed by the turned extension of the forelegs above
the seat (Key Xin, 6; Fig. 2, B; Fig. 3; and Plate
XXXIII, p. 244).

It might be more accurate to call the filling of
Sheraton chair backs fretted panels rather than splats,
for they always filled fully one-third (Fig. 1, A, B and
/) of the entire back and oftentimes occupied nearly
the whole width (Fig. 1, C, E and G), the latticing
(Fig. 1-, H) or barring (Fig. 1, E) being evenly distrib-
uted.

Top rails were straight (Key XIII, 4 and 6 ; Fig. 1,

246 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

D, E, F, G and H) or raised (Key XIII, 3; Fig. 1, A,
C, and I) in the centre. The central rise was either
abruptly angular from a vertically straight rail (Fig. 1,
I) or the sides of the rise were slightly shaped (Fig. 1,
A and C), the top being perfectly straight. In a few
instances the top of the rise is slightly bow curved.
Some chairs also have the whole top rail very slightly
bowed (Fig. 1, 5). On the chairs intended for painted
adornment there was sometimes a broad panelled top
rail (Key XIII, 4; Fig. 1, B; and Fig. 2, A).

Late Types of Sheraton Chairs.

Uprights were either turned and moulded (Fig. 1,
B and C) or flat and moulded (Fig. 1,A,I; Fig. 9) and
the tops were dowelled to them. The backs were filled
with vertical balusters or bars (Key XIII, 3; Fig, 1, C
and E), with diagonal lattices (Fig. 1, B and H), vkth
vase or lyre motifs (Key XIII, 1 and 2 ; Fig. 1, A and
/), with horizontal bars (Key XIII, 4; Fig. 1, P), with
cane work (Key XIII, 6; Fig. 2, B, Plate XXXIII,
p. 244), or with combinations of these elements.

THOMAS SHERATON

247

In the latest chairs, just before the period of his
decadence, the top rail is turned and hollowed (Fig. 1,
G) with a small panel for the central part (Key XIII,
4) or else it is flat with a slight concave sweep (Fig. 2,
A and B), and in the latter case it is sometimes pierced
(Fig. 2, A). The bars or balusters instead of being
vertical are horizontal (Key XIII, 4; Fig. 1, D, F and
G; Fig. 2, A and B) and joined to the uprights instead
of running from top rail to rear seat rail. The turned
legs of these late chairs are sometimes splayed outward
at the feet (Fig. 2, A and B). The backs at the end of
the century are also lower and more squat (Key XIII,
4; Fig. 2, A and B, and Fig. 9).

SOFAS OE SETTEES

Sheraton sofas, or, more properly, settees, were par-
ticularly graceful and satisfactory pieces of furniture.

Sheraton Sofa.

They followed the same structural and decorative prin-
ciples as the chairs. Caning was used both for backs
and seats in many chairs and settees (Plate XXXIII,
p. 244), and in some of the caned settees the backs were
agreeably diversified by an alternation of caned panels

248 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

with narrower latticed or balustered panels (Fig. 1, B).
The upholstered settees sometimes had latticed or bal-
ustered arms and sometimes were wholly upholstered
(Key Xin, 7). They were usually long and had eight
legs (Key XIII, 7 ; Fig. 3 ; Plate XXXIII, p. 244).

BEDSTEADS

Sheraton bedsteads, like Hepplewhite bedsteads,
usually had simple testers covered by valances (Key
Xn, Fig, 4). At the comers surmounting the posts
were often finial vases or urns, sometimes with flame
topping (Plate XXXVI, p. 260). The base of the post
was ordinarily .turned, [fhe upper part, from the fram-
ing, was in most cases turned and reeded and very often
of vase shape at the lower part, tapering off to exceed-
ingly slender dimensions at the top. Sheraton posts
were always slender and graceful. Some of the later
patterns, instead of reeding, had spiral turning (Fig.
6). The acanthus ornament also frequently appears on
posts. Head-boards were either straight with down-
ward scroll ends (Plate XXXVI, p. 260) or surmounted
with swan neck scrolls centring in an urn-shaped finial.

TABLES

Sheraton range or extension tables had shaped or
semi-circular ends and turned reeded or fluted legs
(Fig. 5) and were similar in arrangement to the Hepple-
white range tables. Card tables with turn-up leaf
(Fig. 5) had shaped, serpentine or sprung (Fig. 5)
fronts and the typical leg like those above described.
The edges of table-tops were frequently reeded horizon-
tally (Fig. 5). Pembroke tables (Fig. 4) with square
tapered legs were similar to Hepplewhite tables of the

SHERATON INLAID MAHOGANY BOOKCASE OR CABINET

By Courtesy of the Chapman Decorative Co., Philadelphia

PLATE XXXIV

THOMAS SHERATON

249

Fig. 4. Sheraton Pembroke Table with Spade Feet.
In the Possession of Abbot McClure, Esq.

Fio. 5. Sheraton Card Table.
In the Possession of Harold D. Eberlein, Esq.

same type but were more apt to have saltire stretchers
(Fig. 4).

Writing tables with drawers were like those of
Hepplewhite pattern, except that they usually had the

250 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

characteristic turned and fluted or reeded leg. Work
tables were made with polygonal ends or else were
square (Fig. 6) or octagonal in shape. Some of the
work tables had square tapered legs while others had
the typical round and reeded leg. In the later work
tables, as also in some of the later tables of other de-

Fia. 6. Late Sheraton Work Table in the Mode Immediately Preceding Hie Decadence
In the Possession of Abbot McClure, Esq.

scription, the leg instead of being reeded was spirally
turned (Fig. 6) and the top had the acanthus ornament
adjoining the under framing (Fig. 6). The bases of
such legs were sometimes brass mounted and the
"rounded tops projected from the comers (Fig. 6).

Painted and inlaid tables of semi-circular or shaped
front similar to those made by Hepplewhite (Key XTTT,

THOMAS SHERATON 251

8; cf. Key XI, 5) were also designed by Sheraton.
Some of these tables had rising saltire stretchers. Sofa
tables were supported by legs at either end and were
oblong. They were intended for placing in front of
sofas or settees and hence their name. They usually
had narrow drop leaves.

CHESTS OF DRAWERS

Chests of drawers were of two types, those made
in one section with four or five drawers and used as
dressing stands (Key SIV, 2) and those made in two
sections which took the place of highboys. The upper
section as in the Hepplewhite chests of similar type
had two or three small drawers at the top. The cornice
was embellished with characteristic Sheraton decora-
tive motifs (Fig. 8, B, and Fig. 7) . The mouldings were
not bold but extremely refined (Key XIV, 5 ; Fig. 8,
A and B; Fig. 7). Tops were both straight and sur-
mounted with pediments of various descriptions (Fig.
7 ; Fig. 8 ; Plate XXXII, p. 240) . The low chests were
made both with the French foot (Key XIV, 2; Fig. 7)
and swell (Key XTV, 2) fronts, quite similar to those of
Hepplewhite pattern, or else with turned reeded legs
which extended as pillars all the way to the top (Plate
XXXI, p. 236) . Some of the chest fronts were straight.
The high chest fronts were habitually straight.

CABINETS AND CUPBOARDS

Three-cornered cupboards were of similar structure
to those noted in earlier chapters. The tops were
usually surmounted by swan-neck pediments, centred
in graceful vase-shaped finials. China cabinets were
made with glazed and traceried doors (Fig. 7) in the

252 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

upper part and panelled doors in the lower. Some
cabinets were supported on slender legs and had only
the upper part arranged in cupboard form (Plate
XXXIV, p. 248) . Other cupboards were made with two

FiQ. 7. Sheraton Cabinet with Characteristio Tracery in Doors.

doors in the upper section and two smaller doors in the
lower section as shown in Plate XXXII, p. 240.

WRITING FURNITURE

The writing furniture of Sheraton design comprised
all the types noted in the Hepplewhite chapter and also
some additional types of ingenious contrivance. As
most of these, however, were designed for special in-
stances it will be unnecessary to notice any of them
except the oval writing table which had cupboard doors

THOMAS SHERATON

253

around the ends and in the middle an open space to
accommodate the legs of the sitter. The writing furni-
ture of other types when it differed from that of Hepple-
white make did so only in the matter of Sheraton types
of finish and embellishment.

BOOKCASES

The bookcases of the Sheraton pattern, like those
of Hepplewhite pattern, were of impressive design and

YW^

,.^J=L^^

■MP
1-P

1 1

Flo. S. A, Sheraton Thiee-sectional
Bookcase.

B, Sheraton Clothes Press or
Wardrobe.

finish. They were usually made with cupboard doors
or drawers in the lower part (Fig. 8, A) and glazed
traceried or square paned doors above (Fig. 8, A). The
upper part generally receded several inches, allowing
the lower part to stand forward as a substantial base.
Some of these bookcases were of great length and were

254 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

made in three sections (Fig. 8, A), the middle section
projecting beyond the two side sections. The tops were
almost invariably surmounted by gracefully propor-
tioned pediments. Oftentimes the central section of
these bookcases was fitted with writing accoromoda-
tions. Occasionally the central sections had drawers
in the lower part and the side sections cupboard doors.
Then again there were other bureau bookcases with
spanelled doors in the upper portion and drawers in the
lower section, the deep top drawer containing the writ-
ing accommodations, having a pull down front sup-
ported by quadrants (Plate XXXII, p. 240).

SIDEBOARDS

Sheraton is properly credited with perfecting the
sideboard. The typical Sheraton sideboard (Key XIV,
3; Plates XXXI and XXXV, p. 236, p. 254), which one
may always be safe in ascribing to Sheraton provenance,
has either slender, turned and reeded legs supporting a
superstructure in which there are deep drawers or cup-
boards at either end and a shallow drawer or cupboard
in the middle of the shaped (Key XIV, 1) or straight
front, or else the ends are square, projecting somewhat
from the straight middle portion, and are carried down
almost to the floor as cupboards (Key XIV, 3) . These
square ends are oftentimes built up above the top of the
middle portion to serve as bases for the support of
knife boxes or knife urns.

Sheraton also designed other sideboards of a pat-
tern which we habitually associate with the name of
Hepplewhite (Key XIV, 1, and Plate XXXI, p. 236),
These sideboards had shaped fronts (Key XIV, 1; and
Plate XXXI, p. 236) and square tapered legs (Key

I B^*^^**! i I

PAINTED CANED SEAT SHERATON ARM CHAIR,

VASE BALUSTER ARM SUPPORTS

By Courtesy of Miss Sarah Dobeon Fiske, Philadelphia

MAHOGANY INLAID SHERATON SIDEBOARD OP AMERICAN TYPE,

SPRUNG FRONT, REEDED PILLARS AND LOW GALLERY

By Courtesy of Mrs. John H. Brinton, Philadelphia

PLATE XXXV

THOMAS SHEEATON 255

XIV, I), or round, tapered, reeded legs (Plate XXXI,
p. 236), the ends containing drawers and the middle
portion one shallow drawer, the part under the drawer
being left hollowed out for the accommodation of a cel-
larette or wine cooler (Key XIV, 3 ; Plate XXXI, p. 236) .
Sideboards of this type can be ascribed to a designer
only approximately. It is known, however, that Shera-
ton did not favour the serpentine front for such work,
with its concave depressions from projecting ends, but
preferred sideboards with square ends and sprung
fronts or with the whole front convex in form (Plate
XXXI, p. 236). Knife boxes had either slant tops or
were made in the shape of urns. The square-ended side-
boards Avith the extremities surmounted for the knife
urns took the place of the earlier sideboard tables
which were flanked at either end by pedestals support-
ing knife urns. On many of the Sheraton sideboards
of the type shown in the lower cut of Plate XXXI, p.
236, there was the additional feature of a metal gallery
or raU at the back to which, sometimes, candelabra were
affixed.

WARDROBES AND CLOTHES PRESSES

Sheraton designed wardrobes with doors opening
the full height from top to bottom (Key XIV, 5),
similar to those which we now have. Some were in
three sections, the middle section having two doors
and projecting forward, and the receding side sections
having one door. Clothes presses, similar in general
character to the wardrobes, had drawers in the lower
part and hanging cupboards in the upper (Fig. 8, B).
Tops were either straight or pediment surmounted.
The majority of wardrobes and clothes presses had only

256 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

the two doors and were made in one section instead of
three (Fig. 8, B).

CONSOLE CABIKETS

Console cabinets, like those of Hepplewhite, were
also designed by Sheraton. It is often impossible to
distinguish the designs of the one from those of the
other, except in cases where the character of ornament
lends a supposition to one rather than the other.

FIRE SCREENS

Fire screens on poles supported on tripods were
designed by Sheraton and were extremely graceful in
pattern. He also ingeniously contrived fire screens sup-
ported on spreading legs at either end, which might be
converted into writing desks.

WASH-STANDS

Sheraton designed so many wash-stands that it is
desirable to make some note of them. They were often
made with folding tops concealing the bowl or else were
made with marble tops, the bowl and pitcher being
placed upon them,

MIRRORS AND CLOCKS

Mirror frames and clock cases occupied little of
Sheraton 's attention. What has been s aid of the preva-
lence of mirror designs and types of clocks in the
Hepplewhite chapter applies with equal force in this
place.

MATERIALS

Sheraton had a full range of materials from which
to choose in the designs for his furniture.

Mahogany of a peculiarly dark rich colour was
used for a great deal of the chair- and cabinet-work

THOMAS SHERATON 257

where other materials were not to be used in combina-
tion. The mahogany used for veneer to be combined
with satiQwood and other woods was generally of a
lighter colour and was often exquisitely feathered or
clouded (Key XIV, 5, and Plate XXXI, p. 236).

Satinwood was also largely used in the execution of
Sheraton furniture designs, especially where the sur-
face was to be adorned with painting (Plate XXXIII,
p. 244) or where pleasing inlay effects were required.

Beech was used for chairs and settees that were to
be painted or Japanned (Key XIII, 5).

Sycamokb ob PIaeewood was also used for some of
the furniture.

PiiTE was often used as a base to support veneer,

Ambotna, Thuja, and Kingwood were used, for
veneer.

Tuup, Holly and Ebony were used for the most part
as inlays or banding.

EosEwooD was used sometimes for mouldings, and
both rosewood and kingwood were used for banding.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

The decorative processes employed in the execution
of Sheraton furniture were carving, turning, inlay and
marqueterie, Japanning, lacquer, veneer, painting and
gilding. It is to be especially noted that Hepplewhite
made large use of painting as a decorative resource in
adorning his more elegant furniture. Sheraton, on the
contrary, much preferred veneer and inlay for the same
decorative purpose rather than the more perishable
medium of paint, and the Sheraton designs involved
greater ingenuity in the employment of inlay. Of
course painting similar to that employed in Adam and
17

258 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

HepplewMte designs was also contemplated by Shera-
ton, but Ms preference is always for the former process.
Such furniture of Sheraton design as was lacquered
was of excellent character, the lacquer being superior
to that which had been used earlier in the century. At
this time a distinction must be drawn between the terms
"Japanning" and "lacquering." At an earlier date
they had been synonymous, but in the latter part of the
eighteenth century Japanning simply meant applying

Fig. 9. Chair Back showing use of both Reeding and Fluting close together.

a ground coat of paint on which decorations were ap-
plied. The carving designed by Sheraton was extremely
delicate and dignified. In his chair, table and sideboard
designs, Sheraton showed a peculiar fondness for reed-
ing and fluting, both of which are shown in close com-
bination on the arm and top rail of the chair back in
Fig. 9.

TYPES OF DESIGN

Sheraton employed most of the classic types of de-
sign which had been introduced into English furniture
by the Brothers Adam. We find swags (Fig. 3, and
Plate XXXn, p. 240), spajidrel fans, floral wreaths,
square, oval and round paterae and water leaf motifs.
There are certain designs, however, that are peculiarly

THOMAS SHERATON 259

characteristic of Sheraton. These are the oval (Key
XIV, 5 ; Plate XXXII, p. 240 ; Fig. 7, and Fig. 8,B), the
slender and graceful shaped urn, the conch shell and the
star. He was also much given to the water leaf pattern.
The lyre pattern (Key XIII, 1) he borrowed from Hep-
plewhite. The Eoman diamond lattice which he used so
largely in his chair and settee backs (Fig. 1, B and H)
was of his own introduction. Fluting and reeding he
employed most extensively.

STRUCTUKE

The structure of Sheraton chairs is apparently
frail. They are not, of course, as robust as the chairs
made by Chippendale, but Sheraton had considerable
structural knowledge and so planned his chairs and
settees that support was given at the necessary points.
For that reason they are deceptive in appearance and
have outlasted other furniture of heavier make but less
carefully planned. The cabinet-work was mainly recti-
linear in carcase, saving, of course, the serpentine or
bowed front chests of drawers and the shaped side-
boards.

MOUNTS

The mounts of Sheraton furniture were much like
those on Hepplewhite furniture. Both types have the
engraved ovals, with ring handles (Fig. 10, B), the
round ringed or chased mounts with either brass knobs
or rings (Key XIV, 4 ; Fig. 4, and Fig. 6) , the octagonal
mounts with ring handles (Fig. 10, C) and the simple
bail handles (Fig. 10, A ; and Key XIV, 2) . In addition
to these, Sheraton furniture, in the latter part of the
century, often has lion-head handles with rings sus-

260 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

pended from their moutlis (Key XIV, 1; and Plate
XXXV, p. 254). The key-plates are generally of dia^

Fia. 10. Typical Sheraton Mounts.

mond-shaped ivory, flush with the surface of the door or
drawer. When ivory was not used a narrow, brass,
flush rim took its place.

FINISH

"While Sheraton furniture was doubtless often
finished in the same manner as indicated in preceding
chapters, much of it was unquestionably finished in the
manner set forth in Sheraton's own directions quoted
in the footnote at the end of this section.

The following is a wax polish recipe preserved for
many years in an old Philadelphia family. It may be
used for a finish where the wood has been given a first
dressing of oil, but may also be profitably used as a
weekly polish on any furniture: Melt a lump of bees-
wax of sufficient size in a pint of turpentine over a slow
fire. If a reddish colour is desired a little alkanet root
in a cheesecloth bag may be suspended for a while in
the mixture. When cool it should be of thick creamy

THOMAS SHERATON 261

consistency. Polish with a soft flannel cloth, using only
a small portion of the mixture at a time. Rub briskly
but not too hard.'

'Polish — . . . The method of polishing amongst cabinet-

makers is various, as required in different pieces of work. Sometimes they
polish with beeswax and a cork for inside work, where it would be im-
proper to use oil. The cork is rubbed hard on the wax to spread it over
the wood, and then they take fine brick-dust and sift it through a stocking
on the wood, and with a cloth the dust is rubbed till it clears away all
the clemmings which the wax leaves on the surface.

At other times they polish with soft wax, which is a mixture of tur-
pentine and beeswax, which renders it soft and facilitates the work of
polishing. Into this mixture a little red oil may occasionally be put, to
help the colour of the wood. This kind of polishing requires no brick-
dust, for, the mixture being soft, a cloth of itself will be sufficient to rub
it off with. The general mode of polishing plain cabinet-work is, how-
ever, with brick-dust and oil, in which case the oil is either plain lin-
seed or stained with alkanet root (see Alkanet Root) . If the wood be
hard, the oil should be left standing upon it for a week ; but if soft, it may
he polished in two days. The brick-dust and oil should then be rubbed
together, which in a little time will become a putty under the rubbing
cloth, in which state it should be kept under the cloth as much as
possible, for this kind of putty will infallibly secure a fine polish by
continued rubbing; and the polisher should by all means avoid the ap-
plication of fresh brick-dust, by which the unskilful hand will frequently
ruin his work instead of improving it; and to prevent the necessity of
supplying himself with fresh brick-dust he ought to lay on a great
quantity at first, carefully sifted through a gauze stocking ; and he should
notice if the oil be too dry on the surface of the work before he begin,
for in this case it should be re-oiled, that it may compose a sufficient
quantity of the polishing substance, which should never be altered after
the polishing is commenced, and which ought to continue till the wood
by repeated friction becomes warm, at which time it will finish in a bright
polish, and is finally to be cleared off with the bran of wheaten flour.

Chairs are generally polished with a hardish composition of wax
rubbed upon a, polishing brush, with which the grain of the wood is
impregnated with the composition, and afterwards well rubbed off without
any dust or bran.

CHAPTER XI

THE OTHER GEOEGIAN MAKERS Al^D
DESIGNEES

WE have never given the "other" Georgian de-
signers and makers of furniture enough
credit or enough blame. The very fact of
their being classed together anonymously as the
"others" is proof in itself that in popular esteem they
have not had their just deserts. Chippendale, the
Brothers Adam, Hepplewhite and Sheraton stand forth
preeminently, and to their names fame has attached
all the glory of making the eighteenth century the
greatest in the annals of English furniture develop-
ment.

Great they assuredly were, and entitled to all the
honour paid them, but it need not detract from their
repute to remember, at the same time, that they were
debtors in many ways to their contemporaries, or those
who had preceded them by only a few years. Their con-
temporaries, these "others," were less original, less
enterprising, less great — at any rate, the turnings of
Fortune's wheel never brought them uppermost in pub-
lic notice so that their achievements would be blazoned
to posterity — ^but, none the less, they exerted a very
real influence, for better or worse, and left a distinct
impression on the forms of English furniture in their
day.

The influence and motifs the lesser lights introduced
were amplified and developed by the greater men whose
262

GEORGIAN MAKERS AND DESIGNERS 263

names we are accustomed to associate inseparably with
the representative eighteenth century modes. In some
cases the "others" wrought so well that the best of
their performances compare favourably with the work
done by the men of greater fame, while in many in-
stances, quite on the contrary, the articles they produced
were so atrociously bad that they served as foils to
emphasise the excellence of what was put forth by those
whom we ordinarily regard as the masters of design
and execution in the world of furniture.

SIR WILLIAM CHAMBERS

Sir William Chambers, the scion of an old Scottish
family, was born in 1726 in Sweden, where his grand-
father had settled owing to a financial connexion with
the military undertakings of Charles XII. His spn, Sir
"William's father, unsuccessful in collecting the bad
debts due him, returned to England in 1728 and there
the lad was educated.

In early manhood, travels in the employ of the
Swedish East India Company took him to China, where
he remained for some time to study the manners, cus-
toms, and numerous forms of decorative art of the
people. He was so deeply impressed with all he saw
that he sketched and noted the characteristics of build-
ings, furniture and gardens, and after his return to
England he published a large folio, embellished with
numerous engravings, containing the fruit of his
travels. This publication, however, was not issued till
1757, when he had abandoned all mercantile and sea-
faring pursuits and devoted himself wholly for a num-
ber of years to the practice of architecture.

His book gave a great impetus to the vogue for

264 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

things Chinese and "laid the foundation for a. taste
which has never been wholly eradicated." In publish-
ing such a book Chambers, nevertheless, did not wish
to be regarded as promoting "a taste so much inferior
to the antique." Indeed, he looked upon the whole
thing rather as an amusing diversion than as a serious
venture. Chinese buildings he considered as "toys
in architecture, and as toys are sometimes, on account
of their oddity, prettinessi or neatness of workmanship,
admitted into the cabinets of the curious, so may
Chinese buildings be sometimes allowed a place among
compositions of a nobler kind."

To accompany the architectural designs in his book
he adds designs of "furniture taken from such models
as appeared to me most beautiful and reasonable. Some
are pretty and may be useful to our cabinet-makers."
It has been suggested that Chippendale had access to
Chambers's drawings while preparing the Gentleman
and Cabinet Maker's Director and that Chambers, not-
withstanding the difference in the dates of publication —
Chippendale's book appeared in 1754 and Chambers's,
as already stated, not till 1757 — ^was the "real origina-
tor of the Chinese style." Be that as it may, his in-
fluence in favour of the Chinese taste was much broader
and more potent than Chippendale 's, for he treated the
whole aspect of Chinese interior decoration exhaus-
tively. We may, therefore, very properly regard him
as the real fautor and sponsor of the Chinese vogue
in England. An Oriental taste, evidenced by a fondness
for lacquer and porcelain, had flourished for many
years, but Chambers was the first to treat the subject
broadly and constructively and give it a solid, rational
basis and fitting dignity. In view of this connexion

GEORGIAN MAKERS AND DESIGNERS 265

and the favour that Oriental things have enjoyed in
greater or less degree ever since, it is interesting to
remember that Sir William Chambers was one of our
very earliest writers on interior decoration.

Like Chippendale, Chambers was a master of the art
of adaptation and showed great good taste and judg-
ment in shaping the materials with which he worked to
his own well-ordered, constructive purposes. In pub-
lishing his book of Chinese designs Chambers seems not
to have expected it to be taken very seriously. When
his friends tried to dissuade him from launching it upon
the public, for fear he might hurt his reputation as an
architect, he replied that he could not see why, as a
traveller, he could not give a relation of the things he
had seen worthy of notice. The bent of fashion, how-
ever, was set Eastward and the book put forth at a
venture was destined to have a powerful effect upon
English furniture design.

Although Chambers's chief claim to distinction
rests upon his architectural work, his achievements as
an interior decorator and furniture designer are f ar
too important to be overlooked. He was among the
first to treat the art of interior decoration and design-
ing as one congruous whole and give it a worthy place
alongside of otiier decorative and applied arts. In
this respect he was a conspicuous forerunner of the
Brothers Adam. It was from the decorative side of his
work that he exercised such a powerful influence upon
furniture design, and being appointed Eoyal Architect
and Comptroller of the Eoyal Works by George III,
he was in a position to make the weight of his views
felt. He naturally controlled not a little of the furni-
ture that went into the houses of his designing, and his

266 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

architectural feeling isi plainly traceable in many of
Chippendale's best cabinets and bookcases, so much so,
in fact, that many consider his agency a powerful factor
in forming the Chippendale style.

In view, therefore, of the strong all-round influence
exerted upon furniture design by Sir William Chambers,
it would be a mistake to regard him from the furniture
student's outlook merely as a great exponent of the Chi-
nese taste. He was, before aU else, a classicist in design,
and his touch upon the form of furniture in this direc-
tion is clearly discernible, not only in the work of
Chippendale but in that of the men who came after him.

By his painstaking care and interest in the veriest
minutiae of household equipment, as well as in the larger
architectural aspects, he set a fashion for the Brothers
Adam which brought them great and lasting success.
The trouble Chambers "took to teach the decorative
artists and artificers, who were employed by him,
effected an enormous improvement. ' ' ^ His drawings
for interior decoration schemes, preserved in the South
Kensington Museum, show a sane and skilful adaptation
to English needs of ideas bom of foreign travel and
Argus-eyed observation.

From what has been said, it will be seen how im-
portant a man Sir William Chambers was and to what
an extent English designers and furniture-makers are
indebted to him. He was a fruitful source of inspira-
tion not only for those who indulged in the Chinese
taste and what was good in it — and there is a great
deal of good in it— but he set a pace for the Adelphi,
he left a strong impress upon Chippendale's work and,
last of all, his work in all probability supplied Hepple-

'Clouston: ChippendaZe.

GEORGIAN MAKERS AND DESIGNERS 267

white and Sheraton with some of their musical trophy
and cherub motifs for painting and inlay.

INCE AND MAYHEW

Ince and Mayhew, cabinet-makers and "upholders, ' '
whose shop was in London, in Broad Street, Golden
Square, are among the "others" whose names have
come down to us chiefly, no doubt, because they pub-
lished their "Universal System of Household Furni-
ture, ' ' wherein they inform their patrons and readers
that "every. article treated of" in its pages may be
executed in their work-rooms ' ' on the most reasonable
terms, with the utmost neatness and punctuality. ' ' A
bombastic title page and a flowery dedication to the
Duke of Marlborough are followed by a preface which
warns the reader that "in furnishing, all should be in
propriety, elegance should always be joined with a
peculiar neatness through the whole House, or other-
wise immense Expense may be thrown away to no
purpose, either in use or appearance; with the same
regard any gentleman may furnish as neat at a small
expense, as he can elegant and superb at a great one."

Just precisely what all the foregoing may mean we
shall not attempt to say but pass on to the plates with
their accompanying descriptions in both French and
English. They were engraved by Darly, Chippendale's
engraver, and this fact probably explains their im-
provement upon the plates put forth by the Society of
Upholsterers. Nevertheless, many of the designs are
practically the same and a number of the details are
absolutely identical. One might really say that Ince
and Mayhew 's book is a colossal caricature of Chip-
pendale's Director, for all of Chippendale's faults

268 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

and absurdities they have exaggerated and overlarded
everything with an accumulation of fantastic and
meaningless ornament. The extreme ugliness and in-
anity of many of their more elaborate pieces could find
a worthy parallel only in the wildest flights of mid-
Victorian invention.

As was quite natural, they played to the popular
taste of the day and of course produced pieces in the
Chinese style, the Gothic, the French, and heaven only
knows what beside. Their work is unconvincing, and
patently copied from Chippendale's less-inspired and
over-elaborate models without the wit or discernment
to grasp the good and eschew the bad. They were
pirates wholly ignorant of the principles of design and,
as one might expect, their creations are vulgar, gro-
tesque and weak with their superfluity of ornament and
their incoherent lack of symmetry.

They made the usual variety of pieces required by
wealthy patrons at that day. The chief value in know-
ing about their work lies in being able to distinguish it
by its utter badness from the work of other contem-
porary makers and to exonerate Chippendale from the
blame, often saddled upon him, of producing such mis-
shapen, monstrous objects. A contemplation of the
Ince and Mayhew designs may also help us to realise
that not all old furniture is good merely by virtue of
its age and that there is always room and need for dis-
criminating taste and judgment — a fact that many are
apparently prone to forget.

Among the other furniture makers or designers who
were working at this time, beside those to whom special
sections are devoted in this chapter, must be mentioned
Copeland, Lock, Johnson and Crunden. They wrought

GEORGIAN MAKERS AND DESIGNERS 269

in a great diversity of styles, and some of their per-
formances were creditable while others were far from
the standard of excellence set by the achievements of
Chippendale and his greater contemporaries.

In this necessarily brief retrospect the Gillows of
Lancaster and London must not be forgotten and the
honourable place they occupied as cabinet-makers.

K. MANWARING

Manwaring's "genteel" furniture is just what we
should expect furniture to be to which that objection-
able adjective was applied by its designer and maker.
It was without grace, inspiration, banal and f rumpishly
respectable. It was the logical outcome of a period
when invention and originality were dormant. Like
Ince and Mayhew's tortured frivolities and spineless
fatuities, Manwaring's furniture serves to show how
really great and worthy Chippendale's work was. In-
deed, it is not until we compare the pieces designed
and sent out by such men as Ince and Mayhew or
Manwaring with the chairs and cabinet-work made
after Chippendale's patterns that we can sufficiently
appreciate and value the sagacity and residuum of
sound taste to be found among the rank and file of
eighteenth century British cabinet-makers and their
patrons evidenced in their general preference for the
designs of the latter.

In 1765 appeared the Cabinet and Chairmaker's
Real Friend and Companion, wholly the work of Man-
waring himself, and in the following year was pub-
lished the Chairmaker's Guide by Manwaring and
some associates, which, with a few additional plates, is
mainly a reprint of portions of a book previously pub-

270 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

lished by the Society of Upliolsterers and Cabinet-
makers, entitled One Hundred New and Genteel De-
signs, being all the most approved Patterns of House-
hold Furniture in the present taste.

The last-named valuable contribution to the
cabinet-maker's art was probably published before
Chippendale's Director, and is full of gauche, clumsy
and fantastic anomalies, most of which, if ever actually
executed, have happily not survived. The other two
books with which Manwaring was chiefly concerned,
though printed after the appearance of the Director,
gave evidence of a spirit of envious rivalry towards
the Cabinet-Maker of Saint Martin's Lane and a strong
desire to furnish new and original designs for chairs
and cabinet-work quite as good as his, a desire the ful-
filment of which Manwaring 's limitations of inven-
tion and taste absolutely precluded. In his Cabinet
and Chairmaher's Real Friend Manwaring says that
''though the art of chairmaking as well as cabinet
making, has been brought to great perfection, notwith-
standing which it will be ever capable of improvement,
and though there have appeared of late years several
treatises and designs for household furniture, some of
which must be allowed by all artists to be of the greatest
utility in assisting their ideas for composing various
designs, yet upon the whole the practical workman has
not been much instructed in the execution of these de-
signs, which appear to him so rich and beautiful. The
intent, therefore, of the following pages is to convey
to him full and plain instructions how to begin and
finish with strength and beauty all the designs that are
advanced in this work. " As one able critic has pointed
out, he "unfortunately omits to inform the workman

GEORGIAN MAKERS AND DESIGNERS 271

how lie is to add the beauty in which the designs are so
singularly deficient," ^ contenting himself by observing
that "they are calculated for all people in different
stations of life" and "are actually originals and not
pirated or copied from the designs or inventions of
others, which of late hath been too much practised" —
this last shaft of sarcasm being a dig at Chippendale,
whom his rivals loved to accuse of plagiarism.

Manwaring and his associates could not follow
Chippendale in his mixing and adapting of styles be-
cause they lacked judgment and were utterly wanting
in his sense of form and refinement of contour. A per-
ception of essential symmetry they had not and when
they tried to emulate his achievements the best they
could do was to overload and obscure the outline with
senseless elaborations.

Manwaring 's plainer chairs are his best and his
best are passable. His worst are quite beyond words.
Nearly all are squat, ungainly and dumpy in propor-
tion, and compared with chairs patterned after Chip-
pendale's designs they are loutish and bourgeois in
aspect. His cabinet-work, also, is lacking in any desir-
able individuality and merely suggests inferior Chip-
pendale. His "Rural" furniture, "made with the
limbs of yew and apple trees as nature produces them, ' '
is frankly hideous, the painted landscapes on his rustic
seats and the floral wreaths around the square legs of
Chinese chairs are quite as bad, while the simpering
curves of his French designs are nauseating

In one particular, however, we must yield him due
credit. He seems to have been the originator or, at any
rate, the first to use the fretted bracket between the legs

'Clouston: Chippendale.

272 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

and seat rail of chairs. This item of desiga Chippen-
dale incorporated and frequently made use of with
excellent effect.

THOMAS SHEAEEE

Of all the lesser lights in the furniture world of the
eighteenth century Thomas Shearer seems the most en-
titled to our respect and admiration. He was the con-
temporary of Hepplewhite and Sheraton and a co-
worker with the former. The Society of London
Cabinet-Makers made a reaUy valuable contribution to
the mobiliary literature of the eighteenth century in
the Cabinet-Maker's Book of Prices which they first
published in 1788. For the plates of designs in this
book three members of the Society were responsible —
Shearer, Hepplewhite and Casement. Shearer contrib-
uted twenty plates, Hepplewhite seven, and Casement,
. of whom we know nothing else, was responsible for two.

Shearer's work had many points of strong simi-
larity to both Hepplewhite 's and Sheraton's, and the
latter, despite his acetic disposition and his habit of
speaking disparagingly of both his contemporaries
and predecessors, professed honest admiration for
Shearer's designs and proved the sincerity of his ad-
miration by adapting and improving them.

The general characteristics of Shearer's furniture
are so similar to the salient points in that of his two
great contemporaries that any rehearsal of them would
mean merely useless repetition. Shearer in one respect,
however, stands clearly forth as the leader whom both
followed. He it was who began the development that
resulted in the graceful sideboards that undiscriminat-
ing posterity almost universally attributes to one or
the other of the greater designers. Before Hepple-

SHEARER INLAID MAHOGANY SIDEBOARD WITH FLUTED AND QUILLED LEGS
By Courtesy of Miss Sarah Dobson Fiske, Philadelphia

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By Courtesy of Messrs. Maple & Company, Tottenham Court Road, London

PLATE XXXVII

GEORGIAN MAKERS AND DESIGNERS 273

white made his beautiful inlaid sideboards with serpen-
tine fronts and tapered legs, Shearer had not only-
evolved but fully developed the main portion of the
type and had produced or designed sideboards of this
pattern that compared favourably with anything that
Hepplewhite or Sheraton produced later so far as
contour and proportions were concerned, although in
the introduction of sundry ingenious contrivances
Sheraton carried sideboard-making a step farther than
it had ever reached before.

In all of Shearer's furniture he displayed great in-
genuity of contrivance and structural knowledge. The
only point in which his work occasionally suffers by
comparison with Hepplewhite 's or Sheraton's is in
delicacy and grace of line. If he had been a man of
broader education and more insistent enterprise, his
name would doubtless have been as well known to
posterity as the names of either of the others.

CHAPTER Xn

THE EMPIRE PEEIOD

Febnch and English

1793-1830

THE Empire style was a style created by fiat.
Wlien Napoleon saw the political necessity of
creating a new style of national art and, inci-
dentally thereto, a new style of furniture, he turned
the matter over to the care of eminent French artists,
chief among whom were Percier, Fontaine, and David
— all of them thoroughly saturated with classic tra-
ditions and likewise thoroughly imbued with the new
political principles. In their labours they were in-
spired by the pompous military spirit of the time, and
as they strove to achieve the heroic, they sometimes fell
into mere vainglorious bombast.

"Of all the styles developed in France, that of the
Empire period is least interesting and least French.
It lacks the dignity of Louis XIV, the originality of
Louis XV, and the grace of Louis XVI. It lacks refine-
ment and it lacks spirituality. ' '^ The words just quoted
may seem like a wholesale and a scathing condemnation
of all the furniture designed in France from 1793 to
1830, but on calm reflection and study it must be ad-
mitted that this emphatic verbal castigation is by no
means groundless.

At times there were, of course, glimmerings of in-
spiration and grace, but the prevailing tone is drearily

' George Leiand Hunter.

274

THE EMPIRE PERIOD 275

artificial. Contrasted with the preceding Louis XVI
style it is appallingly brutal. Though both styles are
avowedly of classic provenance, the former is instinct
with Greek grace and inspiration, while the latter is
wholly vulgar and shows the grandiose brutality of
Imperial Rome.

The short Directoire epoch succeeding the political
murder of Louis XVI was really a period of prepara-
tion for the Empire style in its fullest development
and was characterised by a more rigid restraint and
severity of form than the manifestations which fol-
lowed. The accredited exponents of the Empire style,
Percier and Fontaine, disclaimed any originality for
the work they put forth. ' ' The style, ' ' they say in their
preface to their volume of Empire designs, ' ' does not
belong to us, but entirely to the ancients ; and as our
only merit is to have understood how to conform our
inventions to it, our real aim in giving them publicity,
is to do everything in our power to prevent the mania
for innovation from corrupting and destroying prin-
ciples which others will doubtless use better than we. ' '

The French Empire furniture depended largely for
its effect upon the beautifully chased brass and ormolu
mounts with which it was lavishly adorned. Apart
from these, the chief characteristic details of orna-
mentation consisted in lions ' or bears ' claw feet, wings,
cornucopias, conventional classic honeysuckle, the
acanthus leaf, pineapples, pillars (plain or carved),
and wyvems, or other chimerical beasts. As well as
the large bewreathed "N," the Empire star and bees
were to all intents the trademark of the Emperor.
After the Egyptian campaign, Egyptian architectural
cbntours were introduced. When not painted or gUt,

276 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

the wood used in Empire furniture was for the most
part exceptionally fine mahogany and the effect of the
metal mounts against the dark background was im-
pressive.

The English Empire style was but an echo, and
often a clumsy echo, of the French Empire. Not all
the revulsion of feeling in England at the brutal execu-
tion of Louis XVI nor all the hatred and dread of
those who rose to the leadership of such government as
there was in France could ultimately overcome the old
habit, with centuries of precedent back of it, of looking
to Paris for direction in matters of style. To meet this
renewed craze for "things in the French taste,"
Sheraton, now in his pathetic decadent stage, contrived
designs (Fig. 1) from which all his old spirit of pro-
portion, grace and inspiration was lacking and which
for sheer ugliness could compare with many of the con-
temporary atrocities perpetrated. Thomas Hope like-
wise designed many monstrous things, while the work '
of the ordinary chair- and cabinet-maker descended
at times to shocking depths (Fig. 2) of banality or
pompous ugliness.

ARTICLES

The articles of furniture in ordinary use during the
Empire period were chairs, stools, sofas and settees,
couches, bedsteads, tables, chests of drawers, bureaux,
cabinets, secretaries, bookcases, cupboards, sideboards,
and wardrobes.

CONTOUR

The contour of Empire furniture was quite distinct
from that of the furniture of preceding periods. Car-
case work was ordinarily rectangular and apt to be of

THE EMPIRE PERIOD 277

heavy and cumbrous proportions. Mouldings and cor-
nices were heavy and impressive, though often lacking
in grace. The legs of tables and chairs were straight
eind turned ; with mouldings often of meaningless pat-
tern. Table legs were also frequently carved in spirals
somewhat like those we find in the last stage of really
good Sheraton designs, only the proportions were
heavier. We likewise have large pedestal tables, the
pedestals supported on a plinth borne up by four feet.
Head and foot boards of bedsteads and ends of sofas
were scrolled ovQr in many cases with a Greek curve.
When chair legs were not straight they were curved
forward and the back legs backward much in the
manner of the old Eomain curule chairs (Fig. 1).
Nearly aU of the cabinet-work, as well as chairs, sofas
and tables, was bulky in line.

CHATRS

The arm-chairs of the Empire period professedly
foUowed classic models in so far as they were able,
and in other instances were designed with a full comple-
ment of classic motifs. The backs were sometimes
completely rounded, and the seats also (Key XV, 3) . In
other cases the arms of these rounded and upholstered
backs were supported in front with fantastic figures of
birds or beasts (Fig. 2, and Key XV, 2), the front legs
being straight, sometimes fluted (Fig. 2), and the back
legs curved outward. In other arm-chairs the seats
were square, tapering slightly towards the back; the
backs were crested with broad, straight rolled over top
rail slightly (Fig. 1) curved to fit the back. There was
also an upright splat of lyre form or else a cross rail
midway between the top rail and seat. The arms were

278 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

shaped from the top rail and came forward parallel
to the sides of the seat, terminating in a flowing down-
ward scroll.

The legs of such chairs were generally of the curule

Fzo. 1. Sheraton Chair in Empire Taste.

Fia. 2. Empire " Chariot" Chair.

pattern. Similar chairs occurred with rush bottoms.
In the latter, however, the front legs were generally
straight and turned. Side chairs were made with broad

Fio. 3 Broad Top-Eail Characteristics.

top rails (Fig. 3) perceptibly curved to the shape of
the back, like the top rail of a curule chair, and the
uprights were curved slightly forward or else the broad
flat top rail was rolled over and supported on uprights

THE EMPIRE PERIOD 279

scrolled slightly backward in Greek manner. Forelegs
were straight and turned or curved forward curulewise.
Stretchers were often used, though not invariably, and
when used the front stretcher was rarely recessed.
These chairs with broad top rail had either a flat, solid
splat of vase or lyre shape or else a carved and moulded
cross rail. The latter was the better and more repre-
sentative type. Other chairs of fantastic form adorned
with excessive carving were designed, but the forms
mentioned eure those which are typical.

STOOLS

Stools had declined in popularity but, when made,
were made on the principle of ottomans, with a solid
mahogany base and a superstructure of upholstery.

SOFAS AND SETTEES

The sofas and couches (Key XV, 2) of the Empire
period were among the best pieces of furniture pro-
duced. There was considerable variety of shape, the
ends being either straight, scrolled over outwards or
curved inwards. The backs were ordinarily straight
and usually rolled over. Legs were straight and turned
or winged and lion footed, the feet being turned out-
wards in the direction of the ends of the sofa. Caned
sofas with the frames painted and gilded were also
made for summer houses. The French sofas were ex-
ceedingly magnificent creations, the backs and sides
being straight and the arms being fronted by brass
mounted pillars (Plate XXXVIII, p. 280). Back and
seat rails were ordinarily embellished with brass
mounts wherever a sufficient space permitted their
application (Key XV, 2). Some of the couches and

280 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

sofas were adorned with gilded swan-necked ends
(Key XV, 2).

^ '' BEDSTEADS

Bedsteads of the Empire period, in the majority of
cases, had straight head-boards and foot-boards, or
both head and foot were scrolled over like the ends
of a gondola. The French bedsteads of more ornate
pattern had ample gilding and brass mountings be-
decking the pillars that terminated each end of the
head- and foot-boards. In the English bedsteads the
posts were often carried up part way and terminated
with a turned capping or finial. Sometimes the ter-
minal was elaborately carved.

TABLES

Dining tables of the Empire period were made with
drop leaves and designed for extension much like some
of the Sheraton tables. The legs were either straight
and turned, or carved with spiral rope motif or else
with spiral acanthus. There were also centre and side
tables supported on pedestals which rested on plinths
borne up by winged claw feet or claw feet alone. The
pedestal bearing the table was sometimes in the form
of a pineapple, sometimes merely turned. Some of the
pedestals were round, with hinged tops, and others were
rectangular, with double tops which turned up against
the wall. When extended the tops of these tables
turned on the pillar so that proper support was afforded
for the turned over tops by the stationary framing.

Sofa tables were oblong, with drop leaves and end
supports. Pier tables were made with marble tops and
pillars or myihical animals resting on a plinth sup-
ported them at each end. The part against the wall
beneath the marble top often contained a mirror.

MAHOGANY BRASS MOUNTED FRENCH EMPIRE CONSOLE CABINET
By Courtesy of Mr. Joel Koopman, Boston

MAHOGANY BRASS MOUNTED FRENCH EMPIRE SOFA
By Courtesy of Mr. Joel Koopman, Boston
PLATE XXXVIII

THE EMPIRE PERIOD 281

Many ingenious work stands, which of course come
under the head of tables, were also made at this time.

CHESTS OF DRAWERS

Chests of drawers of ample proportions were made
in large numbers. They were of the three or four
drawer description, in one piece, and were perfectly
rectilinear in structure. Serpentine fronts and sprung
fronts had entirely disappeared. Drawer edges were
ordinarily cock beaded. The tops of these chests of
drawers were sometimes fitted with writing accessories.
Double chests of drawers or chests on chests were no
longer used but were supplanted by the large ward-
robes which had come into fashion.

BUREAUX

The Empire period saw the beginning of the article
of furniture we now caU a bureau. The origin of the
. term is to be found in the fact that the chests of drawers,
which afterwards were fitted with mirrors, were in the
first place made with the top drawer fitted as a desk,
or with pigeon holes and drawers with a front that
pulled down supported by quadrants.

SECRETARIES

Secretaries in ponderous rectilinear form were
made with drawers in the lower part, or doors, the
upper deep drawer having a pull-down front intended
to be used as a desk. The upper portion of such pieces
of furniture was ordinarily a bookcase with glass
traceried doors. This was the most popular piece of
writing furniture during the period. Next to it in
point of popularity came the library writing table. Sec-

282 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

retaries were also made with falling fronts, sucli as that
shown in Key XV, 4 and were really a reversion in type
to one of the William and Mary secretary forms.

SIDBBOAEDS

The Empire sideboard in England was an amplifi-
cation, as far as size was concerned, of the final develop-
ment of the Sheraton sideboard. It was practically
the Sheraton sideboard carcase embellished with heavy
turned pillars or pilasters, lion's or bear's claw feet
instead of gracefully-turned supports, ponderous
structures at the end where knife boxes had hitherto
stood, and often the addition of a mirror in the back.
The example shown in Key XV, 1, is a French piece and
less ungraceful than some of the contemporary English
creations.

WARDROBES

Heavy wardrobes became extremely popular at this
time and were made sometimes with compartments at
the sides, on the ends, and great doors in the middle.
Some of the wardrobes of the period had compartments
with drawers in them. The panelling and ornaments
of these pieces were all heavy and ponderous.

MIRRORS

Mirror frames of the Empire period echoed the
motifs and contour of the other pieces of furniture.
They were heavy and imposing. Convex girandoles, in
circular frames, with sconces attached to the side, were
much in favour. Other mirrors of rectangular shape
had characteristic square paterae and acanthus orna-
ments at the corners and at intervals along the framing.

THE EMPIRE PERIOD 283

MATERIALS

As stated before, the chief material for furniture
making during the Empire period was a fine quality
of mahogany. This mahogany was used both solid and
in veneer. Other woods, such as ebony and rosewood,
were sometimes used for special pieces, but the staple
in all cases was mahogany unless the object was to be
painted and gilt, in which case a baser wood was used.
The upholstery in the Empire period was heavy in
colour and pattern and suited the ponderous character
of the framework it was intended to embellish.

DECORATIVE PROCESSES

The decorative processes in principal vogue were
carving, turning, veneering, paiuting and gilding.
Carving was relied upon along with the brass moijint-
ings to supply most of the embellishment. It was
heavy, deep cut and bold and the detail was carefully
wrought out. Turning was used for the legs of
furniture and for the columns and pilasters with
which sideboard, bureau and secretary fronts were
adorned. It was also used for table legs. Veneering
was very extensively used in the panels of doors and
in drawer fronts to secure a varied and rich effect.
The wood used in the veneer was the finest mahogany
root and was almost invariably well laid so that the
surfaces veneered at that time have remained in an
excellent state of preservation. Some of the more pre-
tentious chairs, sofas and settees had the frames
painted and gilded and were covered with upholstery.
In other cases the style of a previous period persisted,
aid some of the chairs and caned settees were painted
the same colour and then embellished with bold designs

284 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

in gilt lining picked out with black. Occasionally in
panels on the top rail of the backs little landscapes
and other devices were painted.

TYPES OF DESIGN

The types of design characteristic of the entire
period are nearly all of classical origin. The distinc-
tively classic motifs have been enumerated in the in-
troduction of the chapter. Besides these there was
the Egyptian winged motif, the imperial N, star and
bees, and the bundles of fasces, as well as the shields,
swords and other warlike trophies that were used for
embellishment.

MOUNTS

Mounts in the Empire period formed an exceed-
ingly important item. Beautifully chased designs in
brass and ormolu were lavished on the mahogany back-
ground in every possible place on the more elaborate
furniture. In the plainer furniture we find glass knobs
appearing or lions' heads with rings in their mouths
and occasionally brass knobs.

FINISH

In the Empire period, while older methods of finish-
ing furniture doubtless persisted, we find French polish
being applied to much of the furniture. It is not until
this time that we see a consistent effort to redden or
stain the mahogany, a practice deserving only of con-
demnation. The older mahogany, where the wood has
been allowed to retain its natural colour, is far more
beautiful. It will be unnecessary to give the details of
the French-polishing process, as information on that
point is readily accessible in extenso.

THE EMPIRE PERIOD 285

One great trouble with French polish and heavy
coats of varnish is that the beauty of the wood grain in
time is dulled or wholly obscured. The wax-like sur-
face of old oak, walnut or mahogany which permits
the charm of the colour and grain of the wood to be
fully appreciated should be sufficient to convince the
observer of the unwisdom of allowing any old pieces,
that are to be done over, to be spoiled by a hard,
unnatural finish.

CHAPTER XIII

AMEEICAN EMPIEE
c. 1795-1830

THE spirit of ardent admiration for all things
French and of equally cordial dislike for all
things British that possessed a large part of
the American public at the beginning of the nineteenth
century manifested itself visibly in the adoption of
French modes of dress, French manners, French styles
in the pattern of furniture and even, finally, in a rever-
sion to classic or semi-classic types of architecture then
in vogue in Prance. We have seen how the Empire
style started in Prance from the reaction against all
forms that had aforetime enjoyed popular favour. We
have seen how this reaction and radical change of style
were deliberately planned and fostered by Napoleon
as a part of his political policy.

We have seen how the new style took root in Eng-
land, despitfe the feeling of bitter hostility toward the
French, Now we shall see how the style was modified
on our side of the Atlantic to suit the preferences and
convenience of American cabinet-makers. A compari-
son between the French and American expressions of
the Empire style, especially American Empire in its
later phases, will show that our craftsmen of the period
allowed themselves considerable liberty of interpre-
tation. With the passing of the last stages of Sheraton
influence, delicacy of outline and graceful proportion
vanished and in their stead gradually came unutterable

286

AMERICAN EMPIRE PAINTED AND PARCEL

GILT FLAP-TOP TABLE

By Courtesy of Mrs. E. T. Stotesbury, Philadelphia

AMERICAN EMPIRE MAHOGANY INLAID TILT-TOP

PEDESTAL TABLE

In Possesaion of Harold D. Eberlein, Esq.

PLATE XXXIX

AMERICAN EMPIRE 287

dulness and uncouth, heaviness in both design and de-
tail. Some of the earlier pieces, made while there was
still an afterglow of Sheraton light, are full of grace
and refinement, while some of the later product of the
same style is totally devoid of inspiration and depress-
ingly cloddish. The only thing favourable that can
be said for it is that material and workmanship were
both of the best. Consequently American Empire furni-
ture is of various degrees of merit, in great measure
corresponding to the date of manufacture.

Under one phase or another the fashion lasted till
about the middle of the century, but its last decadent
stages, dating from a time when all artistic apprecia-
tion was fast sinking to its lowest ebb, were clumsy and
graceless in the extreme, with large vulgar and mean-
ingless scrolls highly suggestive of the convolutions of
squirming, fat earthworms. The bulk of the Empire
furniture that came between these two extremes had
much to commend it. Though there was no longer the
airy lightness of the painted satinwood creations of
an earlier style and the brilliancy of finely-grained,
light-coloured veneer, there was a good deal by way of
compensation. The deep rich colouring of the mahog-
any, that was almost invariably used, relieved by the
brass mounts and occasional brass banding or gilded
carving made a most impressive and agreeable con-
trast. Not a little of the carving was vigorous in con-
ception and excellent in execution.

ARTica:.ES

In the American Empire period the articles of furni-
ture that chiefly concern us are chairs, stools, couches,
sofas, bedsteads, tables, chests of drawers, bureaux (in

288 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

the American sense of the word), workstands, side-
boards, pier tables, wash-stands, bookcases, secretaries,
wardrobes, cupboards, dressing tables, mirrors and
clocks. The graceful knife boxes, highboys, lowboys
and chests with lifting lids no longer appear. Certain
articles in certain rooms centre attention upon them-
selves, the bedstead in the bed-room, the sideboard in
the dining-room and the sofa in the parlour, and upon
them the cabinet makers lavish their utmost care and
elaboration.

CONTOUE,

American Empire furniture is in some respects
worse than English Empire furniture and in other
ways far better. The one man to whom much of its
redeeming quality is due was Duncan Phyfe, a New
York chair- and cabinet-maker, who may very appro-
priately be called the American Sheraton. He was
possessed of a remarkable sense of proportion and
endowed with excellent good taste, so that the furniture
he designed redeemed much of the bald ugliness and
clumsy ponderosity of some of the other work produced
in great quantity. As in English Empire work, car-
cases were rectilinear^and shaped or serpentine fronts
were no longer in vogue. Cornices and mouldings were
heavy. The supports of large pieces of cabinet-work
were turned. The chairs were simpler in type and less
pretentious but in the main followed the same general
lines of structure. Drawers on some of the pieces of
cabinet-work had heavy oval swell fronts, although the
framework was perfectly straight. Bedsteads had both
the old high posts (Key XVI, 5) and the shortened posts
(Key XVI, 6) surmounted by carving (Fig. 1, F). In
almost all cases there were higher foot-boards which
presented a new featute.

AMERICAN EMPIRE

289

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u

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290 PEACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

CHAIRS

The American Empire chair is more graceful in the
long run than its English cousin, upon which fantastic
notions were often allowed free play. Seats were custo-
marily square (Key XVI, 2 and 4; Fig. 2), legs were
both straight (Key XVI, 4 ; and Fig. 2) and outward
curved (Key XVI, 2) following the lines of the legs
in the old classic curule chair. The top rail of the

Fio. 2. Roll-Arm, Rush-Bottom Chair.

By Courtesy of Mrs. Richard C. Ridgway, Philadelphia. Formerly owned by

Stephen Girard.

backs was almost always curved to fit the figure of the
sitter (Key XVI, 2 and 4) . In the best type of Empire
chairs the top rail is straight, rolled over (Key XVI,
2 and 4) and sometimes the panel on it is carved (Key
XVT, 2) . The uprights supporting the back, when they
extend above the top rail, are scrolled slightly over
(Fig. 2) in the maimer of the Grreek curve, and there
is a cross-bar between the uprights, midway between
the top rail and the seat (Key XVI, 2 and 4; Fig. 2).
This cross-bar is customarily turned, moulded or carved
(Key XVI, 2 and 4; Fig. 2).

^^^s®'

MAHOGANY AND SATINWOOD CANED-BACK PHYFE SETTEE
By Courtesy of the Chapman Decorative Company, Philadelphia

AMERICAN EMPIRE CARVED MAHOGANY SOFA SHOWING PHYFE INFLUENCE

REEDED SEAT-RAIL, ARMS AND TOP-RAIL. EAGLE LEGS AND FEET

By Courtesy of Mr. H. Burlingham, New York City

PLATE XL

AMERICAN EMPIRE 291

The arm-chairs were of similar line, the arms being
shaped and joining the uprights just beneath the broad
top rail (Fig. 2). They came forward in a straight line
and terminated in scroll ends (Fig. 2) . Stretchers were
often used and the front stretcher was not recessed but
was raised much higher than the stretchers of the
Chippendale chairs (Key XVI, 4; and Fig. 2), while
there were two stretchers at the sides above and below
the level of the front stretcher. The back stretcher was
also raised. The top rail was sometimes included be-
tween the uprights (Fig. 2). In some patterns the top
rail was dowelled on to the uprights and extended be-
yond them (Key XVI, 2 and 4). Eush-bottom chairs,
painted and adorned with gilding (Key XVI, 4; and
Fig. 2), followed the same general line. Occasionally
in the chairs of less correct pattern the top rail was
shaped on its upper edge. Another form of Empire
chair had the uprights curving doAvn and projecting as
rudimentary arms towards the front part of the seat,
giving the whole piece of furniture a peculiar hooped-
back appearance (Fig. 1, B). Some of the later uphol-
stered arm-chairs had padded arms which terminated in
supports formed of swans ' necks and heads or of one of
the other characteristic Empire motifs.

STOOLS

"What was said of the English Empire stools may be
repeated of those made in America. They were not
popular pieces of furniture.

SOFAS

The sofas of the Empire period for the most part
are deserving of commendation. They are to be met

292 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

with in various patterns. Of these the most usual are
the cornucopia, so called because of the shape of the
arms (Fig. 1, D), which are likewise generally carved
in front with that cheerful device showering abroad its
fruity blessings ; the Greek curve-end sofa with rolled-
over arms (Key XVI, 1 ; Fig. 1, C) and legs turned out-
ward toward the side with lion feet (Key XVI, 1 ; Fig.
1, C) or curved sidewise in lines similar to the legs of
an old Roman curule chair (Fig. 3) ; the sofa with
winged claw feet (Fig. 1, C ; Plate XL, p. 290) ; the sofa
with turned feet and carved front supports for the

Fia. 3. Sofa of Characteristic Phyfe Contour. •

arms, and various other patterns, all more or less simi-
lar, that may be recognised in general characteristics
already mentioned. The Phyfe sofas have legs of the
curule pattern (Fig. 3, Plate XL, p. 290), often with
brass-mounted claw feet (Fig. 5) . The ends are curved
over in Greek manner and the top rails are straight and
rolled over (Fig. 3). The proportions are much more
graceful than those of the other sofas. There were also
many caned settees and couches made, the frames being
painted a ground colour and adorned with gilt striping
and black lining, the gilding at the ends and at scroll
pieces being worked into the anthemion motif (Key
XVI, 4).

AMEEICAN EMPIRE

BEDSTEADS

293

lu America during the Empire period four-posted
bedsteads continued to be used and pillars were of
bulky dimensions and heavily carved. The bases of the
posts were straight and turned (Key XVI, 5; Fig. 1,
G, H, I and K) , the upper parts were carved with spiral
acanthus, plain spirals (Fig. 1, H), or other spiral folia-
tions or floriations (Fig. 1, G) or the acanthus motif

Fig. 4. Gondola or " Sleigh " Bed.

alone without any spiral treatment was used (Key XVI,
5; Fig. 1, K). Then again, the criss-cross diaperings
of the pineapple (Fig. 1, F) played an important part
in the decorative motif for these impressive bedsteads.
Such bedsteads rarely had foot-boards, but had low
head-boards.

Another type of bedstead had the posts pollarded
and terminated with a pineapple motif (Fig. 1, F).
Then again, the beds of the gondola or sleigh type
(Fig. 4) or the beds with straight head-boards and
foot-boards were used.

294 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

TABLES

Dining-tables in the Empire period were usually-
made with square ends and were of the extension type,
having drop leaves and other leaves which could be in-
serted on pedestal tables (Key XVII, 3, and Fig, 5).
It was not an uncommon thing on the occasion of large
family dinners when an unusually long table was re-
quired to have several pedestal tables put at the ends of
the drop-leaf tables that formed companion pieces.

Centre tables came into vogue at this time and were
ordinarily circular in shape and usually supported on

Fig. 5. Pedestal Table.
By Courtesy of Wilson Mitchell, Esq., Philadelphia.

highly ornate pedestals (Figs. 5 and 6; Plate XXXIX,
p. 286) rising from a plinth that in turn was supported
on: winged claw feet (Plate XXXIX, p. 286). Many of
these pedestal tables were rectangular and some had
double tops which could be opened out or turned up
against the wall (Fig. 5). Bases were often ornately
carved and exhibited some beautiful specimens of the
wood-carver's art. The sofa tables, of which beautiful
specimens were made by Phyf e, were oblong and had
narrow drop leaves at both sides. The ends were usually
supported by some variation of the lyre motif, rising
from outward-spread, curule legs with brass-mounted

AMERICAN EMPIRE 295

feet (Key XVII, 4) . Phyf e, more than any of the other
American makers, retained the custom of using brass
mounts on his furniture. Work-stands were made both
square and with polygonal ends and were supported
either on pedestals or on four legs, the pedestal, as
in the ease of other tables, rising from a plinth or from
four curule-shaped legs (Fig. 6).

Fia. 6. Pedestal Drop-Leaf Table.
By Courtesy of Wilson Mitchell, Esq., Philadelphia.

Pier tables of elaborate pattern supported on pillars
or dolphin-shaped supports (of. Supports in Plate
XXXIX, p. 286) were considered extremely elegant and
were often adorned in the back part with mirrors.

CHESTS OF DRAWERS

Chests of drawers were no longer made in two sec-
tions but were slightly higher than those of the preced-
ing period, usually being four drawers instead of three
drawers in depth. In many of these chests the deep
upper drawer had a pull-down front supported on quad-
rants and was used as a writing desk. The fronts were
always straight.

■^ ^ BUREAUX

The modem bureau began its existence in the Em-
pire period, when permanent mirrors supported be-

296 PEACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

tween upright posts (Fig. 1, A) were permanently
attached to what had hitherto been chests of drawers.
As explained before, the name arose from the custom,
of having the upper drawer of these chests of drawers
equipped as a secretary.

SECRETARIES

Secretaries were made with towering bookcase tops ;
the lower portion contained drawers or doors, and the
large upper drawer had pull-down front and was used
as a desk. The slant-top secretary was no longer made.
At this time also another form of secretary appeared,
of French type, being about four feet high and in form
resembling an Egyptian temple or monument, or some-
times the contour of a Greek building. The front pulled
down and made an ample writing desk (Key XV, 4).

BOOKCASES

Bookcases in the main followed the designs preva-
lent in the latter part of the eighteenth century, while
the influence of Sheraton was still paramount. They
rested on solid plinths upon the floor and were made in
one or three sections laterally, and vertically they
were usually divided into two sections, the upper por-
tion being of slightly receding dimensions. The doors
were glazed, sometimes both top and bottom, but always
in the top, and were usually traceried. The tracery
was heavier than during the preceding periods and
sometimes moulded or carved.

CUPBOARDS

In the comer cupboards of the Empire period it
is possible to trace a strong lingering Sheraton feeling.

PAINTED AND PARCEL GILT AMERICAN EMPIRE RUSHBOTTOMED SETTEE
By Courtesy of Mr. James Curran, Philadelphia

AMERICAN EMPIRE CARVED MAHOGANY SIDEBOARD, ACANTHUS CARVING AND

FEET AND LION'S HEAD MOUNTS

By Courtesy of Mr. James Curran, Philadelphia

PLATE XLI

AMERICAN EMPIRE 297

While many of tlie tops are straight, we nevertheless
find quite a few where the top is adorned with a scroll
swan-neck pediment centring in a vase. The doors
taken together form a round arch and the upper parts
are traceried with pointed muntins. A characteristic
Empire motif was frequently introduced in the shape
of spiral-turned or carved comer pillars with acanthus
carving at the capitals. The corner cupboard was not
an object that readily lent itself to embellishment with
the characteristically heavy and robust motifs typical
of the Empire period. These comer cupboards rest
on bracket feet, and panels in the doors of the lower
part are frequently edged with a turned or nulled
moulding.

SIDEBOARDS

The American Empire sideboards are among the
best pieces of furniture that the period produced, both
in point of structure and design. The carcase work is
rectilinear for the most part and the best of material
was used. There were usually three divisions in the
larger sideboards (Key XVII, 5), two doors in the
middle panel and one door in each of the end panels.
Sideboards of a smaller type had two doors. All the
sideboards rested upon scroll, bears' or lions' claw,
turned, melon or ball feet.

From the plinth rose pillars or pilasters support-
ing the projecting top (Key XVII, 5). These pillars
or pilasters were sometimes round and plain and gar-
nished with brass mounts at the bases and capitals,
sometimes they were spiral turned and at still others
were lavishly carved with pineapple, acanthus or floral
motifs. The upper projecting portion contained drawers
and the lower part had cupboards. The panels of these

298 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

cupboards were sometimes square, sometimes round,
arched or pointed in Gothic style. The tops were either
plain and straight or else supported additional drawers
at each end, which took the place of the knife-urn sup-
ports to be found on the ends of the Sheraton sideboards
of the later type. There were also back-pieces or back-
boards rising above the top of the sideboard, and in
not a few instances the middle portion of this back-
board was occupied by a mirror (Key XVII, 5) and
carved supports to bear it up on each side. Although
most of the sideboards had straight fronts, there are
cases in which the middle portion was swelled or sprung,
at least in the under part.

WAEDROBES

High chests of drawers had gone out of fashion and
their place was taken by large wardrobes having doors
extending from the top to the bottom. These rested
upon turned or carved feet of round, melon, baU or claw-
foot design. The carcase work rose from a substantial
plinth, and pilasters or pillars often adorned the front,
with elaborately carved capitals just beneath the
cornice.

MIREOES

Mirror frames were made in both mahogany and
gilt. The upright mirrors not infrequently had two
sections, the upper one of which was devoted to some
kind of painted or embroidered embellishment covered
with glass, the lower portion being reserved for the
looking-glass. The corners of these mirrors were often
ornamented with round, turned rosettes on projecting
square blocks. Many of the mahogany mirror frames

AMERICAN EMPIRE 299

were simply of broad, bevelled and moulded wood. The
more ornate type had pilasters or columns of somewhat
bulky proportions at the sides and were frequently
spiral turned in the favourite Empire manner. The
gilded mirrors were more elaborate in pattern, as a
rule, and had square paterae with enrichment either in
carving or compo.

CLOCKS

The clocks distinctively of the Empire period were
the mahogany case mantel or shelf clocks, with the
lower part of the door embellished with a painting, the
upper part being of clear glass for the front of the
dial. Such clocks were not infrequently surmounted by
one or three brass balls spiked. From this period also
date the Willard banjo clocks and the lyre-shaped
clocks. In fact it may be said that all the hanging
clocks and all the shelf clocks of American, manufacture
belong to the Empire period.

MATERIALS

The almost universal material for Empire furniture
was mahogany, and only the best wood was used. In
some few instances furniture of the Empire period is
found executed in walnut, but walnut pieces are excep-
tional. Rosewood was sometimes employed, but never
to any great extent. Pine wood was the usual base for
veneers. Curly maple was occasionally used.

DECOKATIVE PEOCESSES

The decorative processes of the American Empire
period were limited in number compared with those
employed in the eighteenth century. Carving and turn-
ing were the most usual. Some of the finer pieces were

300 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

inlaid with brass and a few pieces were painted or else
adorned with marqueterie. The application of brass or
ormolu mounts, while almost universal in the French
Empire furniture, was limited in extent in the American
Empire furniture.

TYPES OF DESIGN

The types of decorative design included bears' and
lions ' claw feet, wings, sphinx heads, griffins, acanthus,
pineapples, melons, cornucopias with various fruits and
flowers, spirals, reeding, and honeysuckle of the classic
type.

STRUCTURE

In structure Empire fui^niture was exceedingly sub-
stantial and solid. The carcase work was almost uni-
versally rectilinear. Chairs, when not braced with
stretchers, were usually so staunchly made, and of such
solid proportions, that they have well withstood the
wear and tear of time. As pointed out in the section
on chairs, top rails were sometimes dowelled to the
uprights and sometimes included between them.

MOUNTS

The ordinary mounts found in Empire furniture
were either of brass or glass ; pressed-glass knobs were
extremely popular and designs of various patterns were
used, the knob either being mounted in metal or held in
place by a metal rod running through and bolted on the
inside of the door or drawer. Brass mounts were some-
times round and chased, but more usually were of the
lion-head type with a ring hanging from the mouth.

GIRANDOLE, WALL MIRROR AND TWO DRESSING STAND MIRRIJRS OF
AMERICAN EMPIRE PERIOD
By Courtesy of Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem, Mass,
PLATE XLII

AMERICAN EMPIRE 301

FINISH

What was said of finish in the chapter on the French
and English styles also applies to furniture of the
American Empire period. Both the old methods and
the French-polishing methods were made use of.
French polishing, however, was exceedingly popular
and the pernicious trick of artificially reddening mahog-
any that came in fashion at this time, as a part of the
process, is responsible for much popular misconception
of the true properties of this beautiful wood.

CHAPTER XIV

OTHEE AMEEICAiT FUENITURE

UNDER the general heading "Other American
Furniture" are included all the sorts other
than the local phase of the Empire style con-
sidered in the preceding chapter. Most of the "other
American furniture," however, needs no special techni-
cal comment because everything in the foregoing pages
specifically relative to English furniture applies equally
to the furniture of the American Colonies. For this
reason the term "Colonial Furniture," as it is ordi-
narily used, means nothing and is distinctly misleading
and mischievous. William and Mary or Queen Anne
furniture was just as much William and Mary or Queen
Anne on one side of the Atlantic as on the other; so,
also, was Chippendale (Key XVIII, 6 ; XIX, 2 and 4)
or Adam, Hepplewhite or Sheraton (Key XIX, 6).

It must be remembered that a good deal of London-
made furniture was fetched overseas and that it did not
lose one jot of its distinctive character in the process
of crossing. It must also be remembered — and this is
quite as important — that there were in the Colonies
many competent cabinet- and chair-makers, some of
British birth and training but mostly American born,
with a nice sense of proportion, who patterned their
work accurately after the pieces sent from England.
Sometimes, it is true, they omitted the more elaborate
carved ornamentation, but with rare good judgment
and artistic discrimination, they either carefully pre-

302

OTHER AMERICAN FURNITURE 303

served identity of contour and proportion — would that
all modern reproducers might be like minded ! — or else
made but slight variations that were absolutely true
to the spirit of the original design. There were, to be
sure, a few minor differences in detail or structure that
occasionally appeared between British pieces and those
made in the Colonies and, in one or two instances, the
American maters developed new features, but these
rare exceptions to a virtual identity of type have all
been noted in the several chapters preceding. The later
cabinet- and chair-work, particularly that executed in
Philadelphia, quite equalled in workmanship and gen-
eral excellence of proportion and grace of detail (Key
XVin, 6) the best that was done^JBr-England.

In addition to the general .characteristics common
to both British and American furniture, there are cer-
tain special points relative to furniture in the Colonies
to which attention ought to be directed. For the sake
of convenience and clearness these will be noted by
geographical divisions, beginning with New England in
the north and ending with the Southern Colonies.

We shall also note afterwards, in separate sections,
several phases of American furniture — one of which
may be properly termed "Colonial" — that are of local
development and not to be classed with the period
styles.

NEW ENGLAND

New England furniture, for the most part, thanks
to the thrifty character of the people, has generally
been well preserved and in consequence there are still to
be seen in good condition pieces dating from Jacobean
times. The New England Jacobean furniture is usually

304 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

of the simpler type that found favour during the Crom-
wellian era, but there are enough of the more ornate
pieces — chiefly court cupboards, settles and chests — to
make a fairly representative showing. G-enerally speak-
ing, the more ornate articles were brought from Eng-
land. There were, however, some ambitious attempts
on the part of local joiners and carvers that are by no
means discreditable to their makers, although the exe-
cution is noticeably cruder than in the pieces brought
out from England.

Fia. 1. Two Early American Chairs Formerly the Property of James Pierpont,

President of Yale College. Both Show Dutch Influence.

By Courtesy of Mrs. William Channing Russell, Philadelphia.

When we come to the William and Mary and Queen
Anne furniture the workmanship is conspicuously bet-
ter. Indeed, the New England joiners, cabinet-makers
and chair-builders had become so proficient in their craft
that the product of their shops rivalled the output of
British makers in staunchness and accuracy of contour.

In nearly all of this furniture of early New England
make there is an exquisite simplicity combined with fas-
cinating grace of line giving it a permanent artistic

BLOCK FRONT MAHOGANY SECRETARY OR BUREAU

BOOKCASE, AMERICAN, LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

By Courtesy of Richard A. Canfield, Esq., Xew York City

PLATE XLIII

OTHER AMERICAN FURNITURE 306

value. The cabriole leg and cow, club, or hoof foot,
characteristic of the Queen Anne period, were much
favoured by New England cabinet-makers and their
customers and continued to be made long after other
mobiliary fashions had become well recognised. In-
deed, it is no uncommon thing to find tables, lowboys,
and highboys (Key XVIII, 8) with delicately propor-
tioned cabriole legs of distinctly Queen Anne lines
made well on towards the latter part of the eighteenth
century.

This persistence of furniture types is very notice-
able in other particulars as well and we discover it not
only in New England but in other parts of the Colonies
likewise. It is comparable to the conservatism that
has perpetuated in America many old forms of speech,
so that to-day really better and purer English is spoken
in Philadelphia, Boston, Virginia, Maryland and parts
of the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee, than in
London.

By the time that the Chippendale styles were estab-
lished, so many New England families were in affluent
circumstances that fairly elaborate pieces, as well as
articles of plainer type, were found in large numbers.
All of the Chippendale, Adam, Hepplewhite and
Sheraton furniture of New England ownership or prov-
enance comes well within the general types set forth
in the foregoing chapters devoted to those mobiliary
modes. One point must be especially noted, however,
with reference to the material used, and this applies
to all other American furniture also. During the
troubles with the Mother Country a wood called bilsted^

^Bilsted or Blisted was a local name applied to the wood of the sweet
gum or liquidambar tree.

306 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

was very frequently used as a substitute for mahogany,
against which there was a prejudice, inasmuch as it
had to be imported from the British Colonies that re-
mained loyal to the Crown. In appearance and general
character it is very similar to mahogany, the distin^
guishing features being its slightly lighter colour and
grain. When there was no mahogany in the cabinet-
maker's stock of material on hand, and none elsewhere
that he could readily come by, in those troublous times,
he -would fall back upon bilsted, and usually with such
satisfactory results that it is now commonly mistaken
for mahogany.

NEW YORK AND LONG ISLAND

In New York and Long Island we find mixed Dutch
and English influences. The earliest furniture was
purely Dutch in type and much of it was actually
brought from Holland, as, for example, the gate table in
the Manor House at Croton-on-Hudson and numerous
other well-known pieces, along with a good deal that
has never been written about.

A little after the middle of the seventeenth century,
English furniture of Cromwellian pattern began to
appear. Whether it was brought by its possessors from
England or New England or whether it was made on the
spot by local joiners it is now impossible to say. Some
of the furniture, which shows a blending of English and
Dutch characteristics— such as certain rush-bottomed
locustwood or applewood chairs with English legs and
unmistakably Dutch backs (Key XVIII, 2, Fig. 1)—
was undoubtedly made by local artisans.

With the advent of William and Mary, and later,
of Queen Anne fashions in furniture, no really new

OTHER AMERICAN FURNITURE 307

features were introduced, for bulb turnings (Key
XVIII, 1), inverted cup turnings, cabriole legs and
hoof feet (Key XIX, 5) were all there before, in the
Dutch modes. Between the two types there were only
such minor differences of contour as national prefer-
ence might suggest.

The incoming of Chippendale and other subsequent
furniture styles found New York thoroughly English
in culture and tastes, and what was said of New Eng-
land furniture of that date applies equally to the furni-
ture of New York and Long Island.

PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA

Owing to Pennsylvania's late settlement by English
Colonists (1682) the student of furniture history does
not expect to discover many pieces of Jacobean date.
Such few Jacobean articles as there are were brought
thither among the household goods of early colonists.

William and Mary furniture is met with in far
larger quantity. In some of the pieces known to have
been brought from England we meet with marqueterie
and inlay and other features that savour of the more
elaborate work of the period. By far the greater num-
ber of "William and Mary articles, however, are of
plainer type and derive their charm from their graceful
proportions and the beauty of the wood employed in
their manufacture. It is more than likely that most
of this simple William and Mary furniture (Key III,
3) was made in America, either in Philadelphia or in
West Jersey, which, by reason of its earlier settlement,
had had more opportunity to advance in the domestic
arts and crafts. Many excellent pieces of this stamp
came out of Jersey, as did originally many families

308 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

afterwards prominent in Pennsylvania Mstory. Much
of it, also, still remains in its original state.

Another reason for the almost universal simplicity
of this William and Mary furniture in Pennsylvania
and "West Jersey is that the majority of the people in
those colonies at that time were plain Friends and
were not disposed to look kindly upon any sort of elab-
oration. In point of date it should be observed that in
Philadelphia and the vicinity William and Mary pat-
terns continued (Key XVIII, 5) in use well into the
forepart of the eighteenth century, for. even at that
early date the element of conservatism was dominant
in the City of Penn.

Queen Anne fashions, notwithstanding the conserva-
tive fondness for William and Mary forms, rapidly
made their way into favour and very early in the eigh-
teenth century appeared the cabriole leg, hoof foot,
ogeed apron (Key XIX, 5) and oftentimes burr walnut
veneering on drawer fronts, the stiles and rails of the
carcase being of plain wood.

The material used for nearly all of the William
and Mary and Queen Anne pieces of native make — and
most of them were the work of local joiners — ^was a
singularly beautiful black walnut of deep rich colour
that lent a rare distinction to any article for which
it was employed. This particular variety of black wal-
nut was found growiiig along the banks of the Schuyl-
kill, and material of its peculiar richness seems never
to have been found anywhere else. The supply was long
ago exhausted, so that wood of this sort in any piece
of furniture is almost sufficient to stamp its date and
place of manufacture. Much of the late Queen Aime or
early Georgian and a great deal of Chippendale fumi-

»«■■«•-»

MAHOGANY SECliETAItY OK BCIiEAU BDcjKCASE,

AMERICAN, LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

By Courtesy of Richard A. Canfield, Esq., New York City

PLATE XLIV

OTHER AMERICAN FURNITURE 309

ture "was made of this same walnut by Philadelphia
cabinet-makers.

At the same time, while the walnut was enjoying
such general favour, mahogany was steadily winning
its way into popular esteem. Its employment in
cabinet-work seems to have been earlier and was, per-
haps, more general than in England. Certain it is that

Fig. 2. American Mirror; of Late Eighteenth Century.
By Courtesy of Col. W. J. Youngs, Garden City, L. I.

some ten years before the date, 1720, somewhat arbi-
trarily assigned, for its use as a carcase, cabinet or
chair wood in England, it was being used by Philadel-
phia joiners.

By the middle of the eighteenth century, and from
thence onward, Philadelphia cabinet-makers ranked
easily first of their craft in America and were quite the
peers of their fellow artisans in London. Indeed one
of the prominent Antique dealers and cabinet-makers

310 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

informs us that the American work was generally
the better in that the joiners were more liberal in the
employment of mahogany, using heavier stock, and that
the carcase work was therefore stronger and was better
put together. Furniture of the best Chippendale pat-
tern was manufactured in considerable quantity. Some
of it was as elaborately carved (Key XVIII, 6 and 7)
and ornamented as the generality of that made in Eng-
land and some of it was plain, but in every case the lines
were excellent.

Fig. 3. American Ladder-Back Chair. ByCourtesy of Mrs. William Channing Russell,

Philadelphia. American " Carpenter's Sheraton " Chair.

ByCourtesy of Augustus Van Cortlandt, Jr., Sharon, Conn.

Whether the block front (Key XIX, 4 ; Plate XLIH,
p. 304), to the possible American origin of which atten-
tion has already been directed in the Chippendale
chapter, and which became so popular for secretaries
(Plate XLIII, p. 304) , highboys, chests of drawers (Key
XIX, 4) and lowboys, was first made in Philadelphia or
in New England it is impossible to say. We know, how-
ever, that it was a popular form with Philadelphia
craftsmen.

OTHER AMERICAN FURNITURE 311

One peculiarity of American-made chairs, particu-
larly chairs of the Chippendale style, is that the seat
rail is mortised and tenoned all the way through the
back posts and not merely mto them, so that a small
portion of the end of the seat rail is visible in the rear
surface of the back post.

The more elaborate Adam, Hepplewhite and Shera-
ton painted pieces were not made in America, but the
mahogany furniture in the styles of these designers
and the furniture embellished with inlay (Plate XXXV,
p. 254), veneer and marqueterie was successfully exe-
cuted in the .metropolis on the Delaware, and nothing
can exceed the grace and structural excellence of Phila-
delphia-made articles of Hepplewhite and Sheraton
(Key XIX, 6) pattern. Curly maple often took the
place of satinwood.

VIRGINIA, MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINAS

If one were to search the Southern States over, it
is more than probable that he would be rewarded by
finding scarcely one piece of furniture of Jacobean
date. That the early Virginians had Jacobean furni-
ture, particularly state bedsteads, by which they set
great store, we know from numerous old inventories of
household goods. Likewise, a search for pieces of
WiUiam and Mary date would prove almost as fruit-
less in results. A search for Queen Anne and early
Georgian furniture would be somewhat more success-
ful, but the results would probably not be commensurate
with the expectations based on a knowledge of the
culture and wealth existing in the Southern Colonies
in the early eighteenth century. The explanation of
this dearth of early pieces is to be found in the fact

312 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

tliat when better furniture and furniture that was more
in accord with prevailing styles was acquired, the ear-
lier pieces were discarded and given to dependents and,
we fear, sometimes broken up for kindling. The wealth
of the South was to blame for this deplorable vandalism,
as we must consider it. There was no need for pre-
serving the furniture, something more to the taste of
the possessors had taken its place, so why keep it to
clutter and cumber the attic or store-room? The early
New Englander, with proverbial thrift, and dislike of
wasting anything that might be turned to good account,
saved all his old furniture and found some use for it,
while the Virginian in the abundance of his prosperity
parted with it without one quabn of regret.

Owing to the fact that nearly all the furniture of
the South was either imported from England or made
by the most modish cabinet-makers in Philadelphia,
who closely followed English traditions, little or no
furniture of purely local character was developed.

WOODEN FTJRNITUEB

Under this general heading must be included the
plainer cottage, farmhouse or kitchen furniture that
was to be found everywhere through the American
Colonies. In New England we find a perpetuation of
the banister-back chair and find it in far greater
numbers than in England. The type seems to have
thrived on American soil. It is not improbable that
the banister-back chair of the latter part of the seven-
teenth century was first made a substitute for the more
felegant and expensive caned-back.

In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York the
slat-backed chair (Key XVIII, 1 ; Fig. 4) with turned

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN MIRRORS

By Courtesy of Misa Mary H. Northend, Salem, Maas.

PLATE XLV

OTHER AMERICAN FURNITURE 313

stretchers and sometimes turned legs enjoyed particu-
lar favour. The chair shown in one of the illustrations
is supposed to have belonged to William Penn (Fig. 4)
and is now preserved in the collection of the Pennsyl-
vania Historical Society. It is quite certain that from
the beginning of the eighteenth century onward this
type of chair, arm (Fig. 4) or side (Key XVIII, 1) was
in common use in the vast majority of houses. It was

Fig. 4. William Penn Slat-Back, Rush-Bottom Chair.
In Collection of Fenneylvania Historical Society.

found even in the houses of the wealthy, and the more
elegant furniture was reserved for the best rooms.
The favourite form of turning was vase and ball (Key
XVni, 1; Fig. 4) and stretchers, legs, arm supports
and the finials of back uprights were so adorned. The
cross-slats of the back were plain and usually slightly
bowed (Key XVIII, 1 ; Fig. 4) or arched on the top.
This type flourished in New England as well as else-
where.

Still another type of chair that received a special

314 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

development all over America was the Windsor chair
(Key XVIII, 3; Fig. 5) and many graceful varie-
ties and shapes were evolved, including the bamboo
turnings that came into vogue about the end of the
seventeenth century. Windsor chairs of both the fan-
or comb-backed (Key XVIII, 3 ; Fig. 5, B) and hooped-
back (Fig, 5, A) type were in particular favour. An-

A B

FiQ. 5. A, Fan-back Windsor Chair; B, Comb-back Windsor Chair.

other type of plain wooden chair had a broad top rail
which was tenoned into the uprights, and there were
four or five spindles with widened panels in the back.
Its first inspiration seems to have come from Holland.
The settees of both this type and of Windsor affinities
were often very graceful in shape and were of purely
American development.

MAHOGANY CARD TABLE, DISHED CORNERS,
MONEY WELLS, ROUND PROJECTING CORNERS

Formerly the Property of the Honourable Jasper Yeates,

Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

By Courtesy of Jasper Yeatea Brinton, Esq., Philadelphia

WALNUT WILLIAM AND MARY TABLE OF PHILADELPHIA

MAKE. TRUMPET TURNED LEGS, BUN FEET

By Courtesy of Mr. James Curran, Philadelphia

PLATE XLVI

CHAPTER XV

PAINTED FURNITURE

WE are deplorably timid, in our day, about the
use of vigorous colour. So timid are we,
indeed, and to such length do we carry our
dread of committing some chromatic solecism that few
of us attribute to colour, attained either by paint or
through some other medium, its due importance as a
valuable decorative resource for furniture, nor do we
realise to what an extent it has been employed in this
respect by preceding generations.

Even the most advanced modernists, while ventur-
ing many daring things in the field of colour combina-
tion, tilings that cause conservative-minded folk to
stand aghast and gasp in sheer amazement, have
essayed most of their flights and experiments with
fabrics, mural decorations or furniture forms and have
been extremely moderate, as a rule, in applying coloured
decoration to the carcases or frames of cabinet-work or
chairs.

The chapter on painted furniture has been included
in the scheme of this volume for several reasons. In
the first place, we are in danger of overlooking its
significance in the past. In the second place, it has
not been possible to treat it so fully as might be desired
where it has been alluded to in previous chapters.
Lastly, notwithstanding our reticence in colour, there
are unmistakable evidences of a renewal of interest
in the sundry sorts of furniture painting formerly prac-

315

316 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PEEIOD FURNITURE

tised, and the discriminating student of mobiliary art
and history will more and more require a guide for this
decorative phase.

The possibilities in the reahn of colour decoration
are almost without number. By its use we may achieve
the highest refinement or sink to the lowest depths of
crudity. The history of furniture can furnish examples
of both extremes. A little colour may be made to serve
as a foil to emphasise the effect of carving or some other
form of ornamentation or, again, it may itself afford
the chief claim to consideration as a decorative factor.

From the cradle to the grave we are surrounded by
colour. We could not escape from it if we would and
few of us would wish to if we could. Colour and colour
combination have always been of paramount impor-
tance and the way we deal with them determines whether
or not we possess that much-coveted and oft disputed
quality — good taste. We may choose to surround our-
selves with a late Whistlerian atmosphere of drab and
sepia or we may be like the eccentric old gentleman who,
in flat defiance of all accepted conventions of male at-
tire, designed himself an eiderdown padded greatcoat
of cerise samite quilted with bottle green ; do what we
may, we cannot escape from the colour problem.
Colour and life are inseparable. One , of the chief
agents in conferring individuality, whether in furni-
ture or in anything else, is the element of colour and
the manner of its application. It behooves lis, there-
fore, to view all painted or coloured furniture decora-
tion with a discriminating eye so that we may rightly
value the several kinds that have been practised from
time to time.

Inasmuch, then, as colour fills so momentous a place

PAINTED FURNITURE 317

in our lives, it is surely logical for us to wish to employ
its varied hues to brighten the furniture that surrounds
us, and this method of colour expression has always
been recognised as legitimate. The tradition and deco-
ration of painted furniture continued without break
from a very early period down to the time when they
were obscured and almost effaced during the dreadful
mid- Victorian epoch, the trammels of whose deadly
blighting influence and narrow, uninspired convention-
alism we have not yet wholly shaken off. Our timidity
of appreciation is evidence enough of this lingering
constraint. Fortunately, however, we have well-nigh
reached a normal condition again, and one of the surest
signs of that normality is the renewed and widespread
interest in colour in all our environment.

Since colour and its application are matters of so
vastly important and universal consideration, we can
readily understand how men came to embellish the
furniture in their houses with designs and colours pleas-
ing to the eye. Especially was this the case where the
furniture — chest, cupboard or what you will — ^was
severely simple in form and line and suggested the need
of something to relieve its austerity of aspect. In the
Middle Ages, however, at which period we begin to
hear of painted furniture in Europe, such was the
passion for gorgeous colour that even ornately carved
chests or armoires were heavily overlaid with gilding
and rich" diaperwork picked out in scarlet and blue,
chocolate and green, or bright with heraldic devices
blazoned in all their proper tinctures.

If you would have a lively picture Of a baronial hall
or my lady's bower with its varied garniture, read the
pages of Christine de Pisan or look at some monkish

318 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

illumination. From those englamoured days, wlien
primal traits of character and primary colours held the
field together, to the second half of the eighteenth cen-
tury, when Adam, Hepplewhite and Sheraton gave
fresh impetus to the vogue for painted furniture, an
impetus perceptibly felt on our side of the Atlantic,
there has scarcely ever been a time — excepting the bar-
ren years of the nineteenth century — when the aid of
pigment has not been employed to supplement the craft
of the cabinet-maker or, perhaps, the simpler handiwork
of the carpenter.

From the eleventh century onward to the Eenais-
sance a popular vigorous sense of colour ensured the
use of painted decoration in every place where it might
by any possibility be introduced. In architecturewe find
the adornment of colour resorted to at every turn. From
the missal on the altar or the robes of the clergy to the
stones of the walls or the beams and timbers of the
roof, colour blazed forth everywhere. Though dimmed
by the dust of centuries', we can still discern the crimson
and gold that once made the richly-carved string
courses of St. Ouen'si clerestory to glow vividly. In
many English cathedrals and parish churches the re-
moval of washes or plaster, put on by Puritan vandals,
has disclosed a wealth of bright-hued diaperwork on
the stones of inner walls, while many of the beautiful
painted roofs have never been touched save by the brush
of time. Ecclesiastical examples are cited because
nearly all the enduring or important architecture was
ecclesiastical in general character.

Furniture, in the early days, took its tone entirely
from contemporary architecture. Until 'the time of the
Renaissance there was very little furniture of impor-

PAINTED FURNITURE 319

tanoe that was not distinctly architectural in feeling,
and much of it was actually built in place, so that it is
difficult to say whether it is to be reckoned as part of the
furnishing of an apartment or as an architectural ad-
junct. In this furniture we find the same principles and
lines of structure and the same motifs of decoration
as in the architecture, and it was therefore the most
natural thing in the world to add all the embellishment
of colour for which there was such abundant architec-
tural precedent.

With the Renaissance, regard for form became
supreme and the taste for varied and vivid colour fell
into abeyance among those that attended the behests
of fashion — and be it remembered that the mutability
of fashion is nearly as apparent in matters of furniture
as in types of wearing apparel. However, notwith-
standing the defection of the devotees of ruling styles,
the fondness for painted ornamentation lived on in
many quarters, ready to flourish forth sturdily again
at the least encouragement. Especially among the
Dutch and Bavarian peasantry (see Frontispiece) was
the tradition of furniture painting kept alive, and,
though both style and execution are at times extremely
crude, we find virile spontaneity and originality of con-
ception to claim our respectful attention if not always
our admiration.

With a persistence of mediaeval traditions into
Tudor times, we find some of the old cupboards vividly
painted vermilion and green. Panels of chests were
embellished with polychrome treatment and the lids of
ecclesiastical chests or coffers were often adorned with
paintings of scriptural subjects. Heraldic devices lent
themselves too well to such chromatic treatment to be

320 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

overlooked. When the application of pigment was not
resorted to, excellent colour effects were often achieved
by employing a variety of diiferent-hued woods.

This volume, however, does not concern itself with
furniture prior to the Jacobean period, and the preced-
ing paragraphs will serve sufficiently to indicate the
general development of tendencies up to that time.

In the Jacobean period proper, that is to say, from
the accession of James I to the setting up of the Com-
monwealth, the effect of carved ornament was fre-
quently enhanced by the addition of colour. Some of
the carved oak overmantels were given a rich poly-
chrome treatment and the heraldic devices carved on
bedheads, the coffered panelling of testers and the
panels of chests, were similarly enlivened. Marqueterie
also was employed to gain variety of colour.

The Cromwellian period was distinguished by sever-
ity of form and lack of colour, so that painted decora-
tion was not popular during that sorry time.

With the Carolean period, and the cheerful interest
then manifested in all the pleasant things of life, we
naturally expect to find a revival of interest in colour
and are not disappointed. Marqueterie was becoming
increasingly popular, while the admiration for lacquer
became a positive passion. A free use of gilt and gor-
geous fabrics likewise ministered to the national colour
sense.

When WiUiam and Mary came to the throne, the
fondness for lacquer (Plate XL VII, p. 324) continued
unabated. Marqueterie and inlay, too, played no small
part in the cabinet-maker's art, while many articles
of furniture, especially chairs, stools and settees, were
partially or wholly painted and parcel gilt. This fash-

PAINTED FURNITURE 321

ion of painted and parcel gilt furniture continued dur-
ing the reign of Queen Anne as did also the predilection
for brilliant-coloured lacquer (Plate XL VII, p. 324).
Some of the settees and chair frames of this epoch,
embracing the last years of William and Mary and the
early years of Anne, are wholly covered with agreeable
dull blues, reds, greens, and other colours relieved by
gilding. In Queen Anne's time, too, the love of colour
and sumptuous appointments also often led people to
have the woodwork of their bedsteads wholly covered
with bright-hued fabrics, which were pasted or glued
on, so that all the refinement of shape and line in
panelling and moulding might be plainly visible beneath
the "strained" texture.

Paint and gilt as well as lacquer continued more or
less in use on furniture during the first half of the
eighteenth century, but when the influence of Thomas
Chippendale becamie dominant these modes of decora-
tion greatly abated, for Chippendale was before all else
a carver and relied wholly on carving for the embellish-
ment of his work. It was not until the styles introduced
by the Brothers Adam supplanted Chippendale's modes
that painted furniture again came into high favour.

In the meanwhile, however, while the habit of paint-
ing furniture was somewhat falling into abeyance in
England during the second quarter of the eighteenth
century, the vogue for coloured furniture was rapidly
increasing in France under the influence of one Martin,
a coach painter of the early part of the century, whose
business theretofore had been to decorate coach doors
with heraldic blazonings and flower borders. His var-
nish was a fine transparent lac-polish susceptible of
taking on a beautiful surface. The work associated

322 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

with his name is usually found on furniture such as
tables or bookcases, as well as on small articles like
needle-eases and snuff-boxes. Though his lacquer for-
mula is said to have died with him, his imitators and
pupils painted and enamelled furniture of various kinds
after his manner. Sometimes in the vemis-Martin
work the excellent solid colour — frequently a beautiful
green — of the table or cabinet or chair is unbroken by
any ornamentation save the gold mountings.

The Brothers Adam allowed themselves great lati-
tude in having their furniture painted in colours.
When the piece was to be wholly coloured it was usual
to select some neutral hue such as white, slate, grey or
dull green, pick out the less important features of the
design in lines of colour, "very much as a carriage
builder is wont to relieve his wheels," and then garnish
the main portion of the design by such painted details
as the decorator saw fit (Plate XXII, p. 190). Classic
medallions and plaques, wreaths, festoons and urns
were the subjects generally employed for embellish-
ment. Very often only portions of the furniture were
painted, leaving the natural wood exposed to view for
the most part. This was particularly the case where
satinwood was used, which was beautiful in itself and
at the same time afforded an unusually delicate back-
ground for painted decoration. Many of the plaques,
cameos and panels of this painted and satinwood furni-
ture were executed by such artists as Angelica Kauff-
mann (Plate XXII, p. 190) and Cipriani and are ex-
quisite in colour and finish.

Both Hepplewhite (Key XI, 5 ; XII, 2) and Sheraton
followed the lead of the Adams in designing and ad-
vocating painted furniture at the same time they were

PAINTED FURNITURE 323

putting fortli their best productions in mahogany and
inlaid woods. The classic influence of the middle of
the eighteenth century brought in a taste for paler
and more subdued colouring. Then, too, the colour was
often concentrated in one or two places, as was mostly
the case where medallions and plaques were employed.
Nevertheless, a considerable quantity of furniture con-
tinued to be wholly painted till the end of the century
and, in the days of his decadence, Sheraton sometimes
sacrificed form, and depended on paint to make up for
the deficiencies of shape and proportion.

During the Empire period a good deal of furniture
was painted in both England and America. Usually
dull tones were selected as body colours and then a more
or less elaborate ornamentation of gilding was added
and sometimes other colours besides were included in
the scheme of embellishment.

Following the prevalence of the Empire style we
see the advent of the Biedermeyer type of painted
decoration (Fig. 1). Chairs, sofas, tables and other
objects were adorned with dainty devices in which floral
wreaths, festoons and drops, oval medallions and, above
all, silhouette forms of figures, birds, animals and
flowers played an important part. In Germany, where
the style particularly flourished, the painted decora-
tions appeared on satinwood, maple and the like or on
wood that had been painted a ground colour. In
America, where the style enjoyed considerable vogue,
it was more usual to apply the devices on chairs, settees
or tables that had previously been painted black, grey,
green, blue, canary yellow or some other bright colour.
Both the chairs shown in Fig. 2 well exemplify the
style.

324 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

One more sort of painted furniture, and in some
respects the most interesting because the most spon-
taneous, remains to be considered. It is the painted
furniture of the ' ' Pennsylvania Dutch, ' ' and the decora-
tive traditions which it has perpetuated were brought
from the German principalities by the immigrants who
came thence and settled in Bucks, Berks, Lehigh, Lan-
caster, Montgomery and parts of other counties in

1 ^Jfi S^SsstsaP sfe.^

'"'■^^^^S^^^y^" ■'

Fia. 1. Birch Mirror Frame with Biedermeyer Design in Black.

Pennsylvania during the latter part of the seventeenth
and the first half of the eighteenth centuries. It is, of
course, peasant furniture and not to be ranked,, with
the sorts considered earlier in the chapter but it is
highly decorative in character and rich in the charm
of naivete (Plate XL VII, p. 324; Frontispiece).

The pieces of furniture which the Pennsylvania
Germans adorned with painted devices were usually

WILLIA-M AND MAHY SILVER AND BROWN

LACQUER DOUBLE-HOOD CABINET

By Courtesy of Messrs. Gill & Reigate, Oxford Street,

London

PAINTED "PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH" DOWER CHEST

By Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia

PLATE XLVII

PAINTED FURNITURE 325

chests (Plate XL VII, p. 324) and small boxes given to
the bride by the bridegroom on the occasion of their
marriage. A comparison of these painted chests and
boxes with those executed by the peasants of Germany,
and particularly of Bavaria (see Frontispiece), will
show much in common. Although the colouring of
Pennsylvania Dutch chests is sometimes more subdued
than that of similar pieces found in Germany, there is
a remarkable correspondence in the decorative motifs
employed — stiff, conventional flowers and fruits, birds,
and decorative bands. The favourite flower motif in
chest painting of the Pennsylvania Dutch was the tulip
(Plate XL VII, p. 324). Next in popularity came the
fuchsia and pink. Though these predominated, other
flowers and fruits also were used. The favourite bird
was the dove, although pelicans and other species are to
be discovered. Texts and dates (Frontispiece; Plate
XL VII, p. 324) and initials (Frontispiece; Plate-
XL VII, p. 324) also frequently occur. This style of
furniture decoration has recently been winning a de-
gree of popular appreciation and decorators are pro-
ducing all manner of articles on which the traditional
German colour schemes and designs or modifications of
them are employed.

For the sake of greater clearness the following sec-
tions are devoted to the individual peculiarities of the
painted furniture of the periods just alluded to.

JACOBEAN

The painting of this period was almost invariably
employed on carved surfaces. Where such features as
overmantels were coloured the figures, human, animal
or mythological, were painted with distemper colours

326 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

of vigorous hues and the adornment of gilding was
often lavishly added. The. same methods were apphed
to blazoning heraldic devices and in all cases the colours
were strong, simple and few in number. We should
not be far wrong in saying that the palette was confined
to the heraldic tinctures.

WILX.IAM AND MARY AND QUEEN ANNE

The painted furniture of both these periods was
practically the same. Dull colours, chiefly blues, greens
and reds, were applied, occasionally to walnut and oak
but more usually to some of the baser woods. The hues
were chosen to harmonise with the upholstery stuffs
used on the articles. Chairs, settees and stools were
the pieces usually so decorated. Oil colours were used
and have remained much fresher than the distemper
colours of the Jacobean period. A goodly quantity of
heavy gilding was generally lavished as a relief on the
painted articles. Lacquered furniture (treated in the
earlier chapters) was so popular and ministered so
amply to the love of colour that too much emphasis
cannot be laid on its importance when speaking of
chromatic resources. In this connexion it should be
remembered that apple green, red, scarlet, blue, yellow,
silver and brown were extensively used as grounds, as
well as the standard black, and contributed greatly to
the colourful resources of the period (Plate XLVII,
p. 324).

CHIPPENDALE PERIOD

There was so little painted furniture during the
Chippendale period that it is almost useless to make a
special heading for it. While Chippendale occasionally
used gilding to embellish parts of his finer carved

PAINTED FURNITURE 327

furniture, the only instances in which he used paint
were commissions that he was executing for the order
of some other designer in a purely commercial way.

THE BROTHERS ADAM

In strong contrast to the tenor of Chippendale de-
signs we find the Brothers Adam lavishly employing
paint for the embellishment of the furniture called by
their name. To them England owes its most brilliant
period of furniture painting. It will be remembered
that Angelica Kauffmaim, Pergolesi, and Cipriani lav-
ished their most elaborate efforts in the painting of
panels and arabesques on the beautiful pieces designed
for the handsome drawing-rooms of the latter part of
the eighteenth century (Plate XXII, p. 190).

HEPPLEWHITE AND SHERATON

Both Hepplewhite and Sheraton, following the lead
of the Brothers Adam, made free use of painting as a
valuable means of furniture adornment. In this con-
nexion the preference of Hepplewhite for painting over
inlay and the preference of Sheraton for inlay rather
than painting will be remembered. In addition to the
finer work of Kauffmann, Cipriani, Pergolesi and others,
attention should be directed to the Japanned or painted
furniture which was further adorned by gilding. This
furniture was employed extensively in the designs of
both Hepplewhite and Sheraton, tables, chairs and
other pieces being painted in whites, greens or greys, re-
lieved by linings in another colour and shade or gilding.
Attention must also be directed to the bamboo turned
furniture designed by Sheraton which was Japanned
and then gilt with small so-called Chinese patterns.

328 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE
THE EMPIRE PERIOD

In the Empire period we frequently find, in France
England and America that paint was used as an auxil-
iary to the cabinet-maker's art. Chairs and tables were
painted and then gilt ornament applied. The most
usual form in which painted furniture at this period
occurs is to be found in chairs and couches, especially
of the caned variety. The top rails and cross rails of

Fia. 2. Fainted Chairs of Late Eighteenth Century.

the back were not infrequently painted in colours and
gilt on another ground colour with designs of musical
instruments or some pseudo-classic motif. The caned
couches were painted in greys and greens and light
browns and then lined in black or gold and adorned with
classic designs in gold. Sometimes the gold ornamenta-
tion was so lavish it is hard to distinguish the ground
colour upon which it was applied.

PAINTED FURNITURE 329

AMERICAN PAINTED FURNITURE

The first examples of American furniture painting
are to be found in New England, where chests, hutches,
and small boxes were often adorned with simple flori-
ated or foliated designs applied either on a background
of colour or upon the natural wood. Sometimes merely
scrolls and waving lines were used. Painting of this
sort usually dates from the seventeenth century. A
simpler type of decorative painting was applied to the
plain wooden chairs and settees of farmhouses and
merely involved lining the turnings of legs, stretchers
and back spindles with some contrasting colour to the
ground work of the rest of the piece. Black lining on
green, red and yellow was the usual rule.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century and in
the first part of the nineteenth, the wide top rails (Fig.
2) £ind vertical slats of chair and' settee backs were fre-
quently adorned with stiff, conventional designs or
flowers in baskets. Sometimes these were painted in
black from a stencil pattern and sometimes in colours
with a touch of gilding.

CHAPTER XVI

ADVICE TO BUYEES AND COLLECTOES

THE advice given in the following paragraphs
falls naturally into two divisions — advice tc
buyers and collectors of antiques, and advict
to the purchasers of reproductions. In either case,
however, the selection of the object to be acquired oughl
assuredly to be based on certain fundamental considera-
tions that are practically the same for both antiques
and reproductions.

First of all, the piece under discussion, whatever i1
may be, should have the merit of utility. It might be
added, however, that ingenuity can adapt many old
articles to legitimate new uses. It is unwise to cumber
one's house with objects that can never be of any prac-
tical service and must be regarded merely in the light
of curios. Such injudicious buying makes one's abode
a museum and not a home. In the next place, it is of
vital importance that the piece purchased possess some
intrinsic grace and beauty to recommend it. Not aU of
our furniture by any means is endowed with this allur-
ing charm, while a great deal of the so-called reproduced
work is uncompromisingly hideous.

It is easy, therefore, to see the justification for the
last given bit of advice. By way of example, some of
the chairs produced by the lesser Georgian makers, or
perhaps by country joiners, are positively graceless
and clumsy, and it would be foolish to acquire sucli
objects. They had better be consigned to oblivion, and
the sooner the better, despite whatever claim of an-

330

ADVICE TO BUYERS AND COLLECTORS 331

tiquity they may have. To cherish them is simply to
encourage a false taste for something that is artis-
tically bad. In cases of this sort the general design, or
perhaps, under the circumstances, we had better say
"scheme," may be the same as one sometimes used
most successfully by Chippendale, but the proportions
are faulty and ungainly, without balance and weak both
structurally and from considerations of design. These
misshapen objects are snares for the unwary enthu-
siast who, blinded by veneration for mere antiquity —
a thing that ought to be guarded against — ^may lack the
saving qualities of discrimination and artistic judg-
ment. The purchaser of antiques cannot be too critical
and wary and a goodly degree of skepticism is to be
reckoned a valuable asset, for it will often prevent rash
purchases that would surely cause regret afterward.

The last of the fundamental considerations to keep
well in mind, when buying furniture, either old or re-
produced, is its fitness for the position it must occupy
and its congruity with its future surroundings. The
best effect of a great deal of good furniture is de-
stroyed because it is inherently unfit for the place in
which it has been put or the place is unfit for it. Be-
fore buying a piece of antique furniture, stop and
dehberate maturely, and then deliberate some more.
When the collecting fever once gets into the blood it is
the hardest thing in the world to resist the appeal made
by whatever may be the particular object of admira-
tion at the moment. Question yourself sharply to find
out whether you really wish it as much as you think
you do and whether you would not be just as well off
without it. If possible, go away and let a day or two
elapse and then go and look at it again. At all events,

332 PEACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

do nothing hastily. If you once recklessly give way tc
the collector's acquisitive impulse, your house will sooii
be as crowded as a junk shop and all the delightful ele-
gance that comes from a seemly complement of appro-
priate old furniture, well kept and properly used, will
be lost. A very good and dependable criterion to apply
in making the ultimate decision whether to purchase or
not is the possibility or desirability of putting the piece
in question to some definite use or of making it fulfil
some specific purpose in the decorative treatment of
your house.

In all intelligent purchases of antique furniture, a
buyer possessed of the requisite knowledge will do well
to observe certain principles of buying. In the first
place, he will exercise the keenest scrutiny of every
detail and mentally compare the piece with other pieces
of similar style and period that he may have met with
previously. It is absolutely essential to have the powers
of observation and comparison trained to a high de-
gree of efficiency. Of course it ought to go without
saying that a careful study of the subject will have
preceded the making of purchases. How best to pursue
that study and acquire a thorough acquaintance with
characteristic detail and contour, in short, how t6 be-
come capable of forming an expert and authoritative
judgment, will presently appear.

In the meantime it will be advisable to state why
one must survey every antique offered for purchase
with such lynx-eyed scrutiny. The wiles of the antique
faker are so many and his skill so great, that even
dealers are occasionally deceived. It is plainly neces-
sary, therefore, to subject every object to a searching
examination and in this examination the chiefest and

ADVICE TO BUYERS AND COLLECTORS 333

most reliable aids will be a knowledge of furniture his-
tory (with special reference to contour and detail),
common-sense and sharp eyes. People can and should
acquire the habit of close observation, which is invalu-
able in a thousand and one ways, but especially in an-
tique buying. It simply means using your eyes to their
full powers, realising what you see and putting two and
two together.

Close examination and comparison, along with a
fair idea of mobiliary history and development, are the
bases of thorough critical and authoritative knowledge
that will stand the possessor in good stead when called
upon to make a judgment. Besides reading and exam-
ining what you chance to meet, go, if possible, to
museums and study such furniture details as decora-
tive types and processes, contour, character of carving
or inlay, methods of structure and joinery, the colour
of woods and the kinds of finish. In other words, lose
no opportunity to cultivate and strengthen a critical
habit. It is only at the price of such mental and optical
exercise that we shall ever attain an accurate and trust-
worthy acquaintance with the subject involved that will
make our opinion worth considering. The recompense
for this exertion will come in the many lines of fasci-
nating and absorbing interest it will open up.

In judging the genuineness of old furniture,
"patina" or surface is one of the most reliable guides,
since age alone can impart the true colour and mellow-
ness of surface. It is exactly comparable to the surface
of an old painting. This mellowness of surface and
softness of colour cannot be accurately described in
words. The knowledge of them must come from the
close and frequent study of genuine pieces, but once

334 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

grasped, it can never be forgotten. Lastly, it is sup-
posed that one will use common sense in judging fur-
niture, as, for instance, in remembering always that
artificial worm holes in wood, made by bird-shot, go
straight in and have no turnings inside as have the
worm-bored cavities,^

Quite apart from the methods of examining and
judging old furniture and the chief points to keep in
mind while so doing, we must consider the matters of
hunting ground and price. The true antique hunter
with a passion for "snooping around" will be "instant
in season and out of season" on the trail of old furni-
ture, poking into all sorts of possible and likely and
impossible and unlikely places. We might add that the
"finds," the rewards of this search, are usually met
with in the impossible and unlikely places. These ' 'un-
likely places" are junk shops in small country towns,
old farm houses and various other odd spots, such as
smithies and mills that no one but a collector would ever
think of looking into. But even there traps for the
unwary are laid by the guileful faker, or else loutish
half knowledge combined with a falsely exalted notion of
values often blocks the way to a purchase at fair price.

The writers know of one instance in which a country
junk dealer, of limited mental capacity and outlook,
obstinately held a secretary at four times its highest
possible value and refused to sell unless he got his
figure. He is probably still holding it unless he has
chanced to find a purchaser as big a fool as himself.
What he knew was that the secretary was old and that
people were paying high prices for old furniture.

' And now come worm holes bored by augers with lead shanks that
bend!

ADVICE TO BUYERS AND COLLECTORS 335

What he did not know, and could not be made to realise,
was that the secretary, evidently made by an ignorant
country carpenter, was inherently bad and clumsy in
line, could never be anything but a brute and a lourdan
in the furniture world and that its only merit lay in
several pieces of good timber in its sides, which could
not have redeemed its boorish ugliness of form, or made
it an object of value, had it been as old as Methuselah.

Then, again, you may find that the tricky antique
faker has set a bait in some remote farmhouse in the
form of a specious reproduction, covered with ready-
made marks of wear and tear, which he has subsi-
dised the farmer's family, by a prospective "rake-
oflf," to claim as an "old family piece" and sell to an
inexperienced furniture enthusiast. The antique col-
lector, therefore, must needs be eternally on the watch
and keep his weather eye open, even when browsing
about in the most apparently unsophisticated regions.
There is, nevertheless, a stimulating pleasure and the
glamour of adventure in doing this.

Of course, if one expects to pay higher prices, or to
find exactly such and such a piece, there are reliable
antique dealers in all large cities who can generally
supply what is desired and whose word can be trusted.
To be sure, one must count on paying a higher figure
for this shift of responsibility. Besides antique dealers
as a source of acquisition, there are the sales which take
place from time to time. On such occasions, all manner
of things are put up at auction, but oftentimes one finds
there the gatherings made by small itinerant dealers,
who go over unfrequented districts with fine-tooth-
comb methods and not seldom bring in treasures as a
result of their quest.

336 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

Even though not intending to buy, it is always help-
ful to attend these sales and watch the prices the dif-
ferent objects fetch. It will assist in giving you a
broad and accurate idea of values for guidance when
you may be a purchaser yourself. After having care-
fully scrutinised the goods to be offered at a sale and
selected any article you may wish to have, it is usually
advisable, unless you are an experienced auction
bidder, to have some dealer whom you can rely upon
do the bidding for you. It will prevent having the price
unduly raised upon you by tricksters.

It is worth remembering that a collection of well
chosen antiques is an excellent investment. You have,
in the first place, the pleasure of collecting them and
the satisfaction and enjoyment of their possession and,
in the second, the assurance that they are constantly
increasing in market value and if sold wisely will
realise a great gain over the purchase price. Of course,
when the commercial value is a strong consideration as
well as the decorative merit, it is necessary to buy
things that are in good condition or can be readily re-
stored to good condition without resorting to extensive
repairs.

This brings us to another point — ^the possibilities in
mutilated or dilapidated pieces. Oftentimes one will
find a bit of furniture whose foundation is excellent but
on which the vicissitudes of years in the hands of igno-
rant or careless owners have wrought sad havoc. It
may be battered and somewhat broken or it may have
been altered and "improved" or modernised. For in-
stance, in one case an exceedingly good chest of drawers
had been despoiled of its original mounts, part of its
cornice mouldings and its feet, for which latter very

ADVICE TO BUYERS AND COLLECTORS 337

stupid and ugly feet had been substituted by a local car-
penter. The body, however, was in good condition and
the wood of excellent quality. It was a matter of small
expense and but little trouble to restore this chest to its
pristine state and the result fully justified the effort
made. The same sort of thing can be done in thousands
of cases, so always keep your eye open for possibilities
and do not be discouraged by a dilapidated appearance,
for a little intelligent restoration will work wonders.

"We next come to the consideration of reproductions.
Now there is no fundamentally valid objection to re-
productions merely on the ground that they are repro-
ductions. The cause for objection, and very serious
objection, too, appears when they are specious imita-
tions, made on purpose to deceive, and not honest and
straightforward reproductions; when their makers pre-
tend they are not reproductions but are truly antiques
or else when they are poor and inaccurate and are
unfaithful and libellous to the patterns from which they
are professedly copied.

It is manifestly impossible for everyone with a taste
for and a desire to possess good furniture in the period
styles to acquire genuine antiques. The number of them
is not sufficient for the demand, not even though they
were as plentiful as the seemingly inexhaustible supply
popularly supposed to have been brought over in the
good ship ''Mayflower"; and if, by some chance, they
were, the price would doubtless be prohibitive. But
there is no limit to the potential supply of worthy re-
plicas and anyone may acquire good and accurate copies
of old work and justly take a pride therein. So then,
since there is plainly not enough old furniture to go
around among all its admirers, we may as well frankly

338 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

recognise both the necessity and propriety of repro-
ductions. Indeed, as we shall see a little further on,
the decorative bent of our day actually demands good
reproductions.

Considered from the buyer's point of view, a sharp
distinction must be carefully drawn between honest
reproductions and dishonest, meretricious imitations.
Skilful and conscientious cabinet-makers can satisfac-
torily reproduce old pieces, and this duplication of good
models is a commendable practice. On the other hand,
nothing deserves more unqualified censure than the
practice of manufacturing spurious antiques. To be
sure, if anyone is silly and gullible enough to enjoy
being duped into buying freshly made antiques, full of
worm holes made with bird-shot or battered to order
with hammers and chisels, no very great harm is done
except to the purchaser. But the mischief comes in
when these wretched deceptions have neither the lines
nor the proportions of the originals under whose names
and presumptive- forms they masquerade. Apart from
the detestable sham and dishonesty of the whole thing,
they do an incalculable amount of harm in perverting
the notions and warping the taste of persons whose
knowledge of antiques is not sufficient to enable them
to discriminate between good and bad, true and false.

"We just now said that the decorative bent of our
day demands good reproductions. This is true because
there are no worthy new styles that can at all fill their
place. History shows that few or no furniture styles,
really worth while, have ever been deliberately and
intentionally invented. They have been either the re-
sult of accident or — and this much more generally — the
product of gradual development and modification ac-

ADVICE TO BUYERS AND COLLECTORS 339

cording to new needs. Changes have come by process
of evolution, crystallising into the several forms dis-
tinctive of the several periods, and there has ever been
an ancestral background.

Even the Empire style, which may reasonably be
regarded as a style made to order — and a bad enough
botch it was — had classic prototypes whose details,
though accurately copied, were clumsily combined and
not conformed to the spirit of the originals. Some de-
pressing new styles have, indeed, been concocted from
time to time, as the result of conscious effort, but they
are stilted and affected and are evidently the product
of a tenuous invention painfully striving for something
it could not attain. There was, for instance, the East-
lake mode of Victorian days; there were the various
manifestations of the ' ' art nouveau, ' ' with its grotesque
and tortured forms ; nearer our own day there is the
Mission style, and several others might be added — all
of them so awkward, self-conscious and so evidently
betokening origin from a diseased and woefully jejune
imagination that we naturally feel disposed to mistrust
the latest phase of style creation evidenced in the ten-
dencies of the Vienna school.

The element of utility always rises in the back-
ground of the artistically good, and furniture develop-
ment, where most successful, has followed an eclectic
process that reflects, more or less faithfully, the growth
of new needs according to the prevalence of new social
manners and customs. It is a natural process to which
we may not do violence with impunity. It is obviously
best, therefore, to hold fast to the accepted period
styles, which have both grace and vigour, until some-
thing preferable is devised to take their place, a thing

340 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

which, judging from present indications, seems ex-
tremely unlikely to occur in the near future.

The necessity, then, for reproductions being plainly
seen, the question arises: "How, or on what basis and
principles, are we to choose reproductions that shall
fill all requirements in point of accuracy and general
acceptability?" To begin with, one must insist on
absolute accuracy and truthfulness to originals and
shun all presumptuous changes and "improvements,"
made by the modern artisan, who is too often prone to
take unwarrantable liberties with the model from which
he is working. This all important quality of accuracy
may be said to consist in a most punctilious regard for
correct proportion and an equally punctilious regard
for correct detail.

The knowledge of and ability to judge accuracy of re-
productions will come by persistently watching minute
details of moulding, carving and the like and comparing
them with other similar details on other pieces, being
always on the watch, the while, to detect some differ-
ence. As stated before, with reference to antiques,
constant examination and comparison are the bases of
critical and authoritative knowledge. Train your eye —
you can, by practice — to carry subtle proportions, the
sweep of curves and every little particular of form and
contour. The keenness of discrimination resulting
from a conscientious study of details will at once de-
tect and avoid anachronisms, such as William and Mary
handles on a Chippendale chest of drawers — the writers
saw such a thing recently — or a draw table as wide as
a modern dining table, with stretchers of a much later
date than the pattern of the legs would admit. The re-
sponsibility involved, indeed, and the accurate knowl-

ADVICE TO BUYERS AND COLLECTORS 341

edge of detail and proportion needed in buying repro-
ductions is even greater than in buying originals and
often a keener eye and a sharper sense of proportion
are required to detect inaccuracies which, though they
may be individually almost imperceptible, at least to
some eyes, nevertheless make a great difference in the
sum total of appearance.

One of the aims throughout every chapter in the
book has been to cultivate habits of close observation
and discrimination, and if the reader once becomes
proficient in these particulars it will be an easy matter
to choose wisely and well, no matter what may be pre-
sented for critical examination.

As the old furniture we now so greatly prize was
the work of the cabinet-maker with but a few highly
trained men working under the individual eye of the
master, he himself often doubtless doing some of the
more critical pieces of carving with his own hand, it is
the cabinet-maker who perhaps gives us the best repro-
ductions to-day. He is usually also a dealer in antiques,
familiar with and appreciative of every excellence of the
old work: his reproductions are mostly those of the
best antique specimens which come under his hand and
not the stock pieces found in almost every shop. He
does not adapt but reproduces, and his furniture is
mostly hand-work.

In this latter fact lies a great advantage. It gives
the indefinable mark of the individual and not of the
machine : the carving of the best cabinet-makers will be
incisive and vigorous ; the flat spaces about it will be
smooth but it will be the smoothness of hand-cut work,
showing the slight irregularity or waviness of surface
left by the tool and not the dead flatness of machine

342 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

work. The curve of a cabriole leg will have life, and if
there is a ball-and-claw foot the claw will grasp the
ball, it will have tenseness and sharpness of knuckle.
And the finish — it will be soft and waxlike, not glassy
and hard. In short, such furniture will have the char-
acteristics of the old work, it will look the part, and the
price will usually be rather less than that asked in the
shops for the best grade of factory work. But — and
there is always a but — ^be sure you find your man : there
are but few of him, even in the large cities : of the rank
and file it is well to beware.

In the factory work there are likewise many grades.
The best of those makers whose names are familiar
through advertisements in high-class magazines, and
whose work is handled by equally high-class stores, do
thoroughly reputable work, the lumber is well seasoned,
their furniture is put together to stay, and their work-
men are expert. Some of those establishments make
faithful reproductions, others whose mechanical work
is as excellent show a constant tendency to adapt — a
tendency unnecessary and foolish both because the man
who can improve Ufpon the best styles of the seventeenth
and eighteenth cetfturies has yet to be born, and because
those styles were of eminent practicality they are per-
fectly susceptible of reproduction. Furthermore ifris a
tendency which, with the growing knowledge of the reM
on the part of the buyers, can only result, and more is
the pity, in injury to the makeirs' own business and to
their discredit.

CHAPTER XVII

FUENISHING AND ARRANGEMENT

THE art of furnishing is a very large part of the
art of home-making. It is, therefore, of the
first importance and of well-nigh universal
application. After analysing the characteristics of the
several period styles in detail, it seems eminently fit-
ting to make some practical application of what has
gone before, so we shall, accordingly, conclude this vol-
ume with a few suggestions anent furnishing and ar-
rangement.

There is a certain strongly vital quality that inheres
in most old furniture, because it was well designed and
honestly made so that its fitness in every respect is of
a nature enduring far beyond the limits of the partic-
ular epoch when each succeeding manifestation was le
dernier cri of every changing fashion. When discreetly
chosen and placed in a proper setting, its natural charm
is intensified tenfold. Grood reproductions share much
of this charm and vital quality that cause the several
period styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies, the golden age of furniture making, to be in such
ct)nstant demand for adorning our homes, whether
those styles be used singly with punctilious care for
historic accuracy or in judicious combination based
upon essential affinities.

In connexion with the larger articles of furniture —
chairs, tables, sideboards, chests, bedsteads and the
like — ^that compose the bulk of household gear, there are
numerous smaller furnishing accessories, pertaining to

343

344 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

the several periods, that we usually make too little ac-
count of, overlooking them oftentimes because, per-
haps, of their insignificant size or what we mistakenly
fancy their comparative unimportance. These gen-
erally unheeded objects, for which we might advanta-
geously cultivate a sincerer taste and appreciation, in-
clude tea-caddies, cellarettes, knife-boxes or urns,
caskets and small boxes for laces and other trifles, in-
laid work-boxes or the tiny cabinets that our fore-
mothers delighted in, pole-screens, lamp-shades and all
the rest of the minor adjuncts of house equipment or
personal convenience down to even snuff-boxes and
sand-shakers. When used in their proper places and
for the purposes for which they were originally in-
tended, they impart a tone of genuineness to the fur-
nishings and seem to preserve the true savour of by-
gone days in peculiarly vital form. Beside giving an
air of completeness, refinement and continuity, which
can never be quite fully achieved without them, they are
the visible connecting links with a fascinating and inti-
mate side of the home life of former times and throw
not a little light upon the domestic habits of our fore-
fathers. Furthermore, these same minor accessories
contribute to the precious note of consistency which be-
fittingly concerns itself with details all the way to the
hardware on doors and windows.

Not a few of these neglected furnishings, apart from
the antiquarian interest attaching to them and the tone
of historic continuity they add wherever employed,
have a distinct decorative value that ought not to be
underrated. This is particularly true of some of the
small chests and screens which can be put to manifold
uses.

FURNISHING AND ARRANGEMENT 345

In gathering old furniture together from this source
or that, it is well to bear in mind that many of the
lesser objects, that were originally contrived for one
purpose, we may very aptly adapt to another more
suited to our convenience and that without doing any
violence to their fabric or form. An old brass spice-
box, for example, may be converted into a most en-
gaging desk set with places for inks, pens, rubber bands,
postage stamps and so forth, and all without altering
the structure of it in the least. Or again, a lace-box
such as used to have a place on top of seventeenth cen-
tury chests of drawers, may do duty on a library table
as a receptacle for the smokables that the master of
the house sets before his friends. Ingenuity will sug-
gest numerous other readily effected adaptations, but
reverence for the past will absolutely forbid all distor-
tions and crude, ruthless alterations, such as making a
spinnet or harpsichord into a secretary or an early
piano into a library table.

In assembling pieces of old furniture for equipping
a house, always have an eye to quality rather than
quantity. Be content with a little that is thoroughly
good rather than eager for much that is but indifferent.
Do not crowd your things, even though the collecting
instinct prompts and your purse permits you to accu-
mulate more than a sufficiency of articles. If you have
not enough room for this or that object, refrain from
buying it (no matter how- alluring the thought of owning
it may be) or you will surely make your house look like
an antique shop, cluttered up with things that can
neither be used nor seen to advantage. Buy nothing
that you cannot use and be sure that you do use what-
ever you get, for, after all, one of the chief delights in

346 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PEEIOD FURNITURE

acquiring really good old pieces is the feeling that one
can use them as they ought to be used and so perpetuate
the intent of their makers.

Be patient in collecting your furniture. The really
wise man or woman is willing to wait to find some well
chosen piece to fill exactly a certain place that seems
to have been made on purpose for it. There is a satis-
faction in not hastening too inuch to have things of this
sort completed, and a gradual growth is always more
healthy. Patience in furnishing is a virtue often well
rewarded, for, sooner or later, you are almost sure of
finding just what you are looking for. Then, too, there
is a pleasant stimulus in the mental attitude of quest
for some specially desired object. It makes people
alert, puts them on their mettle and induces them to
keep their eyes wide open so that, if they be at all ob-
servant by disposition, they are learning some new
thing about the subject all the time.

Another element that must be given due considera-
tion in furnishing is colour and the possibility of its
effective introduction. In certain of the periods it was
a most important furnishing factor and without its
liberal employment a scheme of seventeenth or early
eighteenth century modes cannot be successfully car-
ried out. "No epoch was ever more gorgeously chro-
matic with regard to upholstery stuffs, hangings and
the meithods of decoration applied to furniture itself"
than the period covered by the Carolean, William and
Mary, Queen Anne and Early Georgian styles. "It
seems a thousand pities that more avail has not here-
tofore been made of this opportunity and one cannot but
feel grateful that such worthy modes are now winning
more esteem than was for many years their lot." It

FURNISHING AND ARRANGEMENT 347

was not till a more purely classic influence became para-
mount in matters mobiliary towards the middle of the
eighteenth century that colours took a lower key, and
then these quieter tones were in turn superseded by the
crude, vulgar hues to be found in much of the Empire
upholstery goods. Colour virile and lively and, at the
same time, refined is by no means inconsistent with the
genius of later eighteenth century modes and may be
most effectively and pleasingly resorted to. Indeed
there is an opportunity to display much decorative
originality in devising colour treatments that were not
customary at the time but are yet quite within the
bounds of artistic and decorative propriety. In close
connexion, too, with the question of colour and stuffs
for upholstery and hangings must we consider the pos-
sibilities of sundry fabrics and especially several varie-
ties of old-fashioned needle work that are being suc-
cessfully revived.

"Between furniture and architecture there exists
an obvious and close relationship which, however, in
spite of its potency and propinquity, we sometimes
lose sight of." To preserve a reasonable congruity,
therefore, between the furniture and the place it is to
occupy, one must consider their mutual fitness. It
would be sheer madness and folly to fill an Elizabethan
oak panelled room with gilded tables and brocaded
chairs of the Louis Quinze period and equally fatuous
and inappropriate to thrust heavy and rugged Jacobean
cupboards and settles into an Adam room of exquisite
delicacy and refinement. These, to be sure, are ex-
treme cases, but they serve to illustrate the point that
the kind of house things are going to be used in must
he considered.

348 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

It is not always possible and is certainly not always
desirable to furnish a room or a suite of rooms in the
exact style of a single period. On the other hand, it is
often necessary and, at the same time, most desirable
to adopt a scheme that follows several closely related
historic periods that merge almost imperceptibly one
into another. The happy results frequently achieved
quite justify this course. Two or more rooms equipped
in this way simply represent a consistent slice out of an
evolutionary process. Then, again, to furnish a single
room in a "no-period" mode, that is to say, with a com-
bination of harmonious period forms, is often more
agreeable than to adhere strictly to a straight period
interpretation. The method assuredly has more ar-
tistic elasticity. "We may add that the practice is
obtaining more and more favour as the subject of in-
terior decoration increasingly engages popular interest
and patronage. At the same time, the acceptable
achievement of this method of furnishing demands
vastly more skill and judgment than the following of
rigid period precedents." This "trend in favour of
'no-period' furnishing is especially apparent in houses
of a less formal character. The heavy expense entailed
by a strict adherence to period modes and the aspect of
extreme and occasionally oppressive formality that is
sometimes concomitant have been partly responsible
for a rebellion against the too narrow confines of a
rigid purism. Our tendency is to become more and
more catholic minded in our appreciation of indi-
vidual things, things beautiful, and our proclivities are
eclectic so that we are prone to pick here and choose
there and surround ourselves only with what most ap-
peals to us."

FURNISHING AND ARRANGEMENT 349

"There is vast satisfaction in doing this but, if we
are not careful to govern our choice by some construc-
tive canons of selection and good taste, some knowledge
of the principles of judicious combination and arrange-
ment, we shall find ourselves landed, the first thing we
know, in a maze of heterogeneous incoherence. ' ' In the
first place, by way of one guiding principle, it is worth
remembering that a great unifying influence may be
exerted by the general colour scheme. In other words,
one must have a care to the floor covering, curtains and
walls to secure a valuable factor in bonding miscella-
neous things together. Then, too, the harmonising and
amalgamating effect of upholstery must be kept in
mind.

Comparative bulk should also always be considered
in combining articles of different periods as well as
shape and line. One should not place a dainty Shera-
ton chair in the same room with a heavy, sprawling
Queen Anne arm-chair.

In placing the various objects of "furniture, a broken
line of heights must be kept; that is to say, all the
pieces of furniture in a room, particularly the large
pieces, must not be of the same height but some must
be tall and some low. At the same time, do not attempt
to put aU large things or all small things together ; in-
tersperse them. Be very careful about putting large
pieces in small rooms ; the result is apt to be oppressive
and smothering.

Beware of crowding ; nothing will destroy the charm
of a room more quickly. The effect of crowding, how-
ever, is often due to merely injudicious arrangement,
for "with the same room and precisely the same furni-
ture, without the addition or subtraction of a single

350 PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

piece — ^you may so alter the apparent size and shape in
three or four or five different ways, as the case may be,
that you will be astonished. " ^ In avoiding the appear-
ance of crowding, the preservation of a sense of bal-
ance is most important. In this connexion it is per-
fectly clear that all the large, heavy pieces of furniture
must not be congested at one end of a room nor ranged
along one side while other parts are comparatively
bare, having only small or insignificant pieces. How-
ever, the attainment of balance in a room's furnishing
means more than breaking congestions of heavy pieces
and dotting them about at intervals. For one thing, the
architectural affinities of the furniture must be con-
sidered and its relationship to the physical character of
the room. Massing, especially with reference to light
and shadow, must be carefully planned.

Closely allied to all the foregoing is the considera-
tion of grouping, which should always be logical and
natural, each group being consistently composed of the
right units. "It is the natural, obvious and logical
grouping of furniture that gives a room the delightful
air of being really lived in. By the arrangement and
grouping of furniture, more than in any other way, may
we express in our rooms all degrees of feeling from
the stiff est formality down to the most invertebrately
luxurious cosiness. ' ' ^ Another reason for a crowded
appearance is sometimes found in the meaningless scat-
tering of the furniture or else the grouping of it in the
middle of the room. A logical grouping always makes
for space.

Last of all, but by no means least, if there is a fire-
place it must always be regarded as the central point

'McClure and Eberlein: House Furnishing and Decoration.

FURNISHING AND ARRANGEMENT 351

towards wtich everything tends and with respect to
which everything must be considerod and planned.

No explanation of "whys" and "wherefores" has
been attempted in the foregoing paragraphs. Only the
most general hints have been jotted down as cautions
and reminders. An expanded treatment of the matter
of furniture arrangement belongs in a book upon house
furnishing and decoration and, if the reader is intent
upon mastering the subject, he or she will naturally
consult some such.

Last of all a word must be added about the care of
old furniture. Before all else, keep it always in good
condition. Do not wait till it begins to show the need
of attention. Keep it always well groomed and trim
as you would your own person. Every week or two
every piece ought to be gone over. "Furniture
pohshes" are unnecessary and some of them are dele-
terious ; for properly finished period furniture use only
what the cabinet-makers themselves use — rubbing oil —
and this should be secured from a thoroughly reliable
cabinet-maker. Plain linseed oil has sometimes been
employed but it has the fault of stickiness. Oil should
be applied with a small piece of soft woollen rag, very
sparingly, using only enough to oil the surface over.
After leaving this on for a moment or two polish with
a larger piece of the same sort of rag. In this con-
nexion we frequently hear much of "elbow grease,"
but there should be no hard rubbing — the surface is to
be polished, not scrubbed. A fair pressure should be
used and the oil should be rubbed in or rubbed off ; none
should be left upon the surface, for successive coagula-
tions of dried oil will only obscure the polish. A little
double boiled linseed oil on a soft woollen rag may be

352 PEACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE

used also with excellent results on old furniture, or
else the compound of beeswax and turpentine referred
to in the section on Finish in the Sheraton chapter. If
furniture has been neglected and the wood has become
very dry one or two additional treatments may be neces-
sary to secure an even polish. With large pieces it is
better to oil but a portion, polish, and then go on to
another portion.

Another factor in the proper care of old furniture
is a proper amount of fresh air. Without it the wood
will in time become dull and lifeless. This condition
may be seen at any time in furniture that has been
stored away for a long period in a dry, unaired place.
It is necessary, too, that a certain amount of moisture
should accompany the fresh air.

The fresh, moist air is particularly necessary for the
health and preservation of furniture brought from
England to America. The drier American climate and
the generally warmer houses are severely trying to
British furniture until it has become thoroughly accli-
mated, a process that often takes a year or more. Lac-
quered articles, veneer upon oak and painted furniture
are apt to require more careful watching than plain
walnut or mahogany. For the sake of the furniture, if
not for personal health, an open vessel of water ought
to be in every room during the months that artificial
heat is necessary so that the evaporation may some-
what neutralise the extreme dryness.

Old furniture is one of our most precious material
heritages — a heritage from a rich past, and having once
acquired it either by inheritance or by search and pur-
chase it deserves our reverent and affectionate care.

GLOSSARY

Almert. v. p. 47.

Afbon. a narrow strip of wood, adjoining the base of cabinet carcases

and extending between the tops of the legs or feet brackets. The

lower edge may be either straight or shaped.
Arm Sttpport. The vertical or curved upright supporting the front end

of chair arms. Either an extension of the fore leg or a separate piece

rising from the seatrail.
Astragal. A small convex beaded moulding.
Bail Handle. A metal or wood handle curved upward at the ends,

depending from the sockets.
Balustkk. a small, slender turned column, usually swelled outward at

some point between base and top.
Bai«)Ing. An inlay or marqueterie device which gives a contrast either

in colour or in grain between the band and the surface of the wood it

is intended to decorate.
Baroqite. An architectural style of Italian origin characterised by con-
spicuous curves, scrolls and highly ornate decoration.
Bead. A small moulding of nearly semi-circular section, occurring either

flush with the adjacent siu-face or raised above it.
BnsTED. The wood of the sweet gumi or Uquidambar. Sometimes used

in America in latter part of eighteenth century as a substitute for

mahogany.
Block Foot. A square, vertical-sided foot at base of straight, untapered

1^.
Block Front. A sort of cabinetwork in which drawer fronts and doors

display swelling projections instead of panels, the "block" and the

Burrounduig lower parts being cut from one solid piece of wood.
BoMBE. Outward swelling, curving or bulging. Applied to furniture with

bulging contour.
Boss. A circular or oval protuberance for surface ornament.
Bow Top. A chair whose toprail shows one low, unbroken curve across

its whole width.
Broken Coenek. A comer cut away at right angles from the convergent

Bun Foot. A flattened globe or bun-shaped foot with slender ancle

above.
Cabochon. a plain round or oval surface, convex or concave, enclosed

within ornamentation.
Cabriole. A leap, a springing curve. Term applied to legs that swell

outward at the upper part or knee and inward at the lower part or

ancle.

( 353

354 GLOSSARY

Cahcase. The body of joinery or cabinetwork.

Caktouche. An ornamental fonn of irregular shape enclosing a plain

central surface often used as a field for painted devices or inscriptions.
Chamfer. A bevelled cutting away of a comer angle.
Channelling. V. p. 62.
CocKBEADiNG. A narrow raised beading used as a surround for drawer

edges.
"CoLLABED Toe." The base of a table or chair leg with an ornamental

band.
CouKT Cupboard. V. p. 47.

Cresting. Ornamental topping, usually of a chair or settee back.
Crossbail. The horizontal bar or splat in a chair back.
"Cupid's Bow." A variety of compound or serpentine curve much used

in the toprails of Chippendale chairs.
Cyma Curve. A wave curve, a double or compound curve, v. p. 103.
Dentil. A form of moulding ornamentation made by small oblong blocks

set at equal distances from each other.
Diapebwork. a method of surface decoration consisting of a design

made up of regular repeats.
Dipped Seat. V. Dropped Seat.

Dished Corner. A table corner sUghtly hollowed out to hold a candle-
stick.
"Dog Ear." A projecting rectangular ornament at the heads of door

frames, mirror frames and panelling. Much used in early Georgian

times.
Dowel. A wooden pin fastening two pieces of chair or cabinetwork

together.
Dropped Seat. A seat concaved so that the middle and front are lower

than the sides.
EvoLUTB. A recurrent wave motif for frieze or band decoration.
Feather-edging. A feather pattern of veneer or marqueterie banding.
Finial. a decorative finishing device for comers or any sort of projecting

upright.
Flemish Scroll. A Baroque form with the curve broken by an angle.
Fluting. Channelling or grooving on a pUlar or flat surface.
Fret. Interlaced ornamental work sometimes applied on a solid back-
ground, sometimes perforated.
Gadhoon. a carved and curved fluted or ruffle ornament for edges.
Gallery. A raised rim of fretwork or metal bar surrounding table tops

or a metal bar at the back of sideboard tops.
Girandole. A candle branch usually attached to a mirror.
Gros Point. A kind of embroidery used for chair and settee covers.
Guebidon. a small rotmd stand, usually for candles.
Guilloche. V. p. 62.
Hood. A shaped top to cabinetwork.
Hoop Back. A back whose uprights and toprail continue in one unbroken

line of several curves.

GLOSSARY 355

Husk. A form of ornament taken from nature, generally used in pendent

manner.
Hutch. A sort of chest with doors in front.
Joint Stool, Joined, " Joyned." A joined or joinery stool.
Japanning. In earlier parlance synonymous with lacquering. Later

merely a coating with paint preparatory to decoration.
Kettle Fkont. A swelling or bulging front of earlier date and sharper

curves than a bombi front.
Knee. The uppermost curve of a cabriole leg where it is thickest.
Ladderback. a back in which horizontal crossrails are used instead of a

vertical splat.
Laurelling. V. p. 63.
LrvERY Cupboard. V. p. 46.
Lozenge. A diamond-shaped decorative motif.
Lunette. A half round or half-moon-shaped motif.
" Marsh.'' A rush or reed floor covering.
Masque. A full face, human, animal or grotesque, used without the rest

of the body as a form of ornament.
Mortise. A hole cut in a piece of wood to receive a tenon.
Mounts. The handles, keyplates, escutcheons and any ornamental

metalwork.
Nulling. V. p. 63.
Ogee. A form made by two opposite cyma curves with their convex sides

meeting in a point, v. p. 103.
Ormolu. A material for elaborate metal mounts made of a copper and

zinc alloy resembling gold.
OvoLO Moulding. A moulding in which the chief member is of oval

contour, often convex.
Otstering. Veneer made from cross-sections of small branches showing

cross-sectional grain in irregular concentric rings.
Patera. A small disk, oval, roimd or square as a base for ornamental

detail.
Patina. The surface or finish resulting from wear or polishing.
Pediment. An architectural cresting for large cabinetwork, either

triangular or segmental or scrolled.
Pendant. A hanging ornament.

Pettt Point. A kind of embroidery used for covering chairs and settees.
Pilaster. A portion of a pillar set flush against its background.
Plinth. The projecting base of a pillar or piece of cabinetwork.
QuATREFOiL. Conventional adaptation of four-leaved clover.
Rail. A horizontal member of the frame of cabinetwork or panelling.
Rake. The angle or slant of a chair or settee back.
Recessed Stretcher. Front stretcher set back between the two side

stretchers.
Reeding. V. p. 62.

Ribband Back. A back with ribbon matif ornament.
Rising Stretcher. A stretcher rising in a curve between the legs it

braces.

356 GLOSSARY

Rococo. An elaborate form of ornamentation full of curves and employ-
ing rocks, shells and other rustic details conventionalised.

"RoMAYNE WoKK." A sort of Ornamentation using human heads upon
roundels or medallions.

Roundel. A small circular ground for ornamentation.

Saltirb. An arrangement of stretchers, etc., in X-form.

Seathails. The frame on which the seat is built.

Serpentine Front. A front shaped with waving or serpentine curve.

Sideboard Table. Side table used before the sideboard was developed.

Skirt. V. Apron.

Spade Foot. A four-sided foot tapering to base.

Spandrel. The approximately triangular space between the outer curve
of an arch, the horizontal line from its apex and the vertical line from
its spring.

Spindle. A slender turned vertical baluster or rod.

Spiral Turning. A twisted form of turning for legs.

Splat. The central member of a chairback.

Spooning. The shaping of a chairback to fit the contour of the occupant.

Squab. A loose cushion.

Stiles. The vertical members of frame of cabinetwork or panelling.

Stitched-up Seat. V. p. 159.

Straining. Gluing a fabric tight over woodwork.

Strapwork. V. p. 60.

Stretcher. The bracing between legs.

"Sunk Top." V. p. 166.

Swag. A festoon of drapery, leaves or flowers.

Swell Front. A convexly curved front.

Tambourwork. Small sections of wood glued on a flexible backing.

Tenon. A projection cut at the end of one piece of wood to fit into the
corresponding hole or mortise in the piece to which it is to be fastened.

Terminal Figure. A conventionalised human bust on a pedestal.

Tester. The upper or canopy part of a high-post bedstead.

ToPRAiii. The top member of a chairback.

Torus. A bold convex cushion-like moulding of semi-circular or elliptical
profile.

TuRKEYWORK. A form of embroidery popular in seventeenth century.

Upright. Extension of back leg supporting chairback.

Veneer. A thin coating of ornamental wood showing rich grain overlaid
upon a body of plain, solid wood.

Vernis-Martin. a form of fine lacquer varnish made by the French
coach painter Martin.

Wainscot. Boards used for panel work. Panel work itself.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ancient Coffers and Cupboards: Frederick Roe.

Chats on Old Furniture: Arthur Hayden.

Chats on Farm and Cottage Furniture : Arthur Hayden.

Colonial Furniture in America: Luke Vincent Lockwood.

English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century: Constance Simon.

English Furniture in the Eighteenth Century : Herbert Cesoinsky.

A History of English Furniture: Percy Maequoid.

French and English Furniture: Esther Singleton.

Furniture of Our Forefathers : Esther Singleton.

French Furniture of the Eighteenth Century: Mrs. Pattison — LadyDilke.

Illustrated History of Furniture: Frederick Litchfield.

Percieret Fontaine: Maurice Fouch^.

Quest of the Antique: R. and E. Shackleton.

Style in Fumitinre: R. Davis Benn.

The Chippendale Period in English Furniture: K. Warren Clouston.

The Book of Decorative Furniture: Edwin Foley.

In addition to the above must be included the contemporary volumes
specifically mentioned in the text in Chapters VI, VII, VIII, X,
and XI.

357

INDEX

Acanthus, 38, 55, 62, 66, 94, 127,
143, 180, 199, 222, 231, 238, 248,
250, 275, 293, 300

Acorn pendants, 36, 85

Adam, Brothers, 18, 26, 145, 184,
200, 202, 226, 327; cornices, 190;
furniture, 188; influence, 184, 203;
James, 186; John, 186; mouldings,
190; ornament, 188; oval, 211;
period, 185; Robert, 186; um,
190, 196; vase, 190; William, 186

Adaptation of antiques, 345

Adelphi, 184

Adjustable top, 166

Advice to buyers and collectors, 330

jEsop's Fables, 175

Allied arts, 55

Ahnery, 46, 47

Amboyna, 177, 188, 197, 221

America, 123

American block fronts, 171; bom
cabinet-makers, 302; chairs, 160,
311; Colonies, 123; Empire, 286,
287; furniture, 54, 132, 201; high-
boys, 169; walnut, 123, 177; tri-
pod tables, 167

Animal designs, 114, 126, 199; gro-
tesque, 163

Anthemion, 199, 292

Applewood, 91

AppUed ornament, 55, 58, 63

Aprons, 94, 118; arched, 71, 85;
Chippendale, 154; flat, 71, 75;
ogeed, 71, 85; shaped, 84, 120

Arabesque, 58

Arcades, 36

"Arcadian properties," 142

Arched apron, 85; back, 163; top
rail, 157
358

Arches, 36; ogival, 75; pointed, 181

Architectural affinities, 350; inspi-
ration, 55

Architects' furniture, 100, 101, 120^
125

Arm, 41, 192, 229; carved. 111;
Chippendale, 160; rolled over. 111;
shaped. 111; stiified over, 104;
supports, 109, 160, 212, 229, 245

Armchairs, 67, 91; Adam, 191;
Hepplewhite, 212; Louis XVI,
229; Sheraton, 245; upholstered,
109, 191

Armoures, 135, 139, 231

Armorial bearings, 58

Arrangement, 343

Ash, 52

Astragal moulding, 172

Aubusson tapestry, 233

Aumbry, 26

Back, 40; baluster, 38; banister, 77,
108, 312; cane, 38; chairs, 37,
75; Chippendale, 156, double-
arched, 79, flat hoop, 158, Gothic,
158; Hepplewhite, 212; leather,
59; Louis XVI, 228; open, 37;
piUar, 158; ribband, 158; settees,
75; square top, 153; supports,
192, 212, 229; upholstered, 41
Back legs, 291; Hepplewhite, 214
Bail handles, 27, 95, 129, 259
Ball, brass, 123; feet, 162; turning,

126
Balloon back, 229
Baluster, 77; back, 38, 212; panel,
248; pear-shaped, 66; spindle,
66; spUt, 65; turning, 76, 126;
vertical, 37, 246

INDEX

359

Bamboo-turned furniture, 327

Banister back, see Bade

Banjo cloclc, 299

Barometer cases, 174

Baroque influence, 38, 55

Barred back, Hepplewhite, 212

Bartolozzi, 186

Bason stands, 174

Bavarian chest, 325; peasants, 319;

peasant furniture, 319
Beaded splats, 157
Beading, 63, 199, 222
Bead moulding, 85
Bear's claw feet, 275, 300
Beauvais tapestry, 233
Bed, canopies, 231; curtains, 80,
112, 164; cupboard, 80; Empire,
280; hangings, 92; posts, 42, 112,
216; press, 80; truckle or trundle,
43, 80, 112; turn-up, 80
Bedside tables, 114
Bedsteads, 32, 34, 42, 67, 74, 80,
111, 138, 163, 193, 216, 230, 240,
248, 280, 293
Beech, 57, 124, 257
Benches, backless, 39
Bermudian cedar furniture, 57
Bevelled glass, 90, 121; panels, 66
Bevelling, 49

Biedermeyer furniture, 323
Bilsted, 176, 305
Bh-ds, 57, 66, 126, 199
Block, feet, 162, 191, 193; fronts,
171, 310; fronts in America, 172
Blocked comer, 114
Bog oak, 51, 57
Bomb6 fronts, 23, 27, 67, 104, 135,

139, 153, 167, 170, 174, 182
Bookcases, 172; Adam, 194; bureau,
87, 171; American Empire, 296;
Chippendale, 154; Queen Anne,
118, 119,-Becretary, 218; Sheraton,
253, 254; triple section, 172
Boss oval, 60, 65
BouUe, 140, 141; work, 141, 142

Bow curve top rails, 212

Bow fronts, 216; Sheraton, 219;

top shield Hepplewhite, 213;

front, 245, 259; top rail, 246
Box, 91, 140
Bracket, clock, 90, 123, 196; feet,

82, 87, 116; fretted, 162
Brass, 129, 140, 143, 234; balls,

123; banding, 287; dials, 123;

inlay, 300; knobs, 259; mounted

legs, 250; mounts, 295
Bread and cheese cupboard, 47
Brocades, 59, 67, 80, 92, 124, 233;

French, 177
Buffet, 32, 47, 48, 74, 89, 120
Bun feet, 23, 33, 76, 80, 82, 88,

116
Bureau, 74, 87, 139, 171, 217, 231,

281, 295, 296; bookcases, 87, 89,

119, 171, 254; modern, 46

Cabinet, 32, 47, 65, 85, 127, 128,
134; Chippendale, 169; console,
170, 194, 266; desk, 217; double-
hooded, 88; lacquered, 118; on
legs, 219, 252; Sheraton, 251;
with doors, 118; work, 33, 128,
208, 221

Cabling, 53

Cabochon, 60; and leaf, 99, 100, 125,
136; period, 127

Cabriole, card table, 165; leg, 23,
76, 83, 106, 117, 119, 120, 148,
161, 162

Canapg, 134, 230

Candelabra, 122, 255

Candle, brackets, sliding, 88; stands,
174; sticks, 196

Cane, backs, 38, 77, 78, 229; chairs,
137; settees, 292; work, 37, 38,
42, 92, 246, 247

Cannon, 65

Canopy, 42; bed, 231

Capital, carved, 115; Ionic, 199

360

INDEX

Carcase work, 47, 67, 150, 154,
190, 223, 277; Chippendale, 181

Card tables, 81, 113, 165, 216, 248

Cartouche, 60

Carved, backs, 78, 228; bedposts,
112; capitals, 115; seat rails, 192

Carving, 37, 38, 55, 56, 60, 74, 78,
87, 92, 125, 126, 140, 145, 151,
177, 196, 198, 221, 222, 257, 283,
299

Casement, 272

Casket, 45

Cedar, 51, 91

Cellarette, 174, 196, 255

Cescinsky, Herbert, 99

Chair, 32, 74; Adam, 191; American,
160; American Empire, 290;
American made, 311; banister-
back, 77, 108, 312; slat-back,
312; carved back, 38; Carolean,
23; Chippendale, 148, 153, 155,
181; courting, 41; Derbyshire,
36; Elizabethan, 35; Empire, 277;
fiddle-back, 125, 126; Hepple-
white, 210, 211; Hogarthian, 110;
hoop-back, 104; Jacobean, 34;
Louis XIV and XV, 135; Louis
XVI, 228; low-back, 37; oval-
back, 210; Queen Anne, 104, 105;
Restoration, 38; roimd-back,
210; rush-bottom, 107; Sheraton
square-back, 243; shield-back
Hepplewhite, 210; Stuart, 34, 38;
turned, 34; upholstered, 58; wain-
scot, 34, 35; panel-back, 35;
Windsor, 314; X-shaped, 35;
Yorkshire, 36

Chair-back, 277; Adam, 192; square
Sheraton, 241, 247; settees, Hep-
plewhite, 215
Chambers, Sir William, 26, 151,

263
Chamfered, comers, 167; edges, 115;

supports, 109
Channelling, 62

Charles I, 54; XII, 263

Chased brass, 275

Chequering, 66

Cherry, 51, 95

Chestnut, 51, 124

Chests, 27, 33, 40, 44, 67, 74, 82,
114, 325; fourteenth century, 26;
lifting lid, 168; low, 116; of
drawers, 33, 45, 77, 82, 114, 128,
209, 295; Adam, 194; Chippen-
dale, 167; Empire, 281; Hepple-
white, 217; Sheraton, 251; on
chests, 115; on stands, 168; two
sections, 115

China, 118, 145, 263; cabinet, 87;
collecting, 72; cupboard, 16, 128,
173, 219, 251; cabinet, Adam, 194

Chinese, buildings, 264; Chippen-
dale, 161; chairs, 155; foot, 154;
revival, 26; style, 179; vagaries,
26; vogue, 264

Chintz, 80, 124; figured, 92

Chippendale, 26, 101, 106, 107, 132,
144, 188, 200, 201; adaptations,
151; chairs, 148, 153, 155; chair-
backs, 156; characteristics, 151;
Chinese chairs, 155; cupboards,
165; English chairs, 155; French
chairs, 155; fretted chairs, 156;
Gothic chairs, 155; furniture, 177;
mirrors, 220; obligations to Cham-
bers, 264

Choir stalls, 35

Christine de Pisan, 317

Cibber, 89

Cipriani, 198, 221, 311, 322, 327

Circular, fronted doors, 120; lines,
191; paterae, 193, 199

Classic, feeling, 191; motifs, 222,
277; ornament, 193, 203; Renais-
sance, 238; style, 205; tendency,
205

Classicism, 226

Claw and ball feet, 100, 126, 162,
180

INDEX

361

Clock, 50, 74; Adam, 96; American
Empire, 299; bracket, 90, 96,
123; case, Sheraton, 256; dials,
90; French, 140; Hepplewhite,
220; Louis XVI, 232; tall case,
90, 96, 123, 175

Clothes press, 220, 255; Chippen-
dale, 174

Clouded grain mahogany, 176

Cloven foot, 136

Club foot, 106, 120, 126, 162

Cockbeading, 167, 217, 281

Cockleshell, 94, 100, 106, 117, 125,
126, 127

Coffee drinking, 44

Coffer, 40, 45

Colbert, 133

Collar, cabriole leg, 83; collared
cabriole, 76; collared toe, 211

Colonial, American furniture, 132;
furniture, 302

Colonies, American, 123

Columnar legs, 44

Comb-back Windsor chairs, 314

Commode, 138, 231

Commonwealth, 36, 54

Compo, 196, 197

Concavity, Hepplewhite, 209

Concealed drawers, 84

Conch shells, 259

Conical finials, 230

Console, cabinets, 94, 138, 170, 194,
220, 221, 231, 256; tables, 114,
124, 126, 196

Continental influences, 33, 54, 67

Contour, 32, 54, 67, 72, 74, 75, 138,
152, 227; Adam, 189; American
Empire, 288; Empire, 276; Hep-
plewhite, 209, 210; Louis XIV,
135; Queen Anne, 102; Sheraton,
242

Contra-Boulle, 42

Convexity, Sheraton, 209

Cords and tassels, 159

Comer, cupboard, 297; pilasters,
119; blocked and dished, 114;
chamfered, 167; dished, 165

Cornice, 87, 168, 217, 218, 288;
Adam, 190; picked out in colour,
58; Sheraton, 251

Cornucopia, 26, 275, 292, 300

Country joiners, 124

Court cupboards, 22, 46, 47, 48, 120

Courting chairs, 41

Cresting, 38, 77, 78, 103, 107, 230;
carved, 108; of chairs, 35, 95,
126, 160; cabinets, 128

Cricket tables, 43

Cross, banding, 66; pieces carved
and hooped, 36; rails of chairs,
78; stitch, 67

Croton-on-Hudson, 306

C, scroll, 149; leg, 86

Cupboard, 27, 33, 34, 46, 65, 74, 89,
219, 296; bread and cheese, 47;
china, 128, 173, 194, 219; court,
120; curio, 128; doors, 173; hang-
ing, 120; lacquered, 33; Queen
Anne, 119; straight, 119; three-
cornered, 89, 119, 173, 219, 251

Cupid's-bow top rail, 156

Cup-turned legs, 71, 83, 88; cup-
turning, 23

Curtains, 43

Curule chairs, 277, 290

Cut-pile velvet, 67

Curve, concave, 37; exponent of,
Hepplewhite, 210; stepped, 154,
158

Curvilinear element, 75, 128, 184

Curving Unes, 189, 204; tracery,
Sheraton, 243

Cushions, 40, 42; squab, 79, 91

Cyma curve, 77, 85, 88, 103, 113,
118, 121, 128, 139

Dalmatia, 186
Damask, 92, 124

362

INDEX

Dariy, 267

David, 274

Day-beds, 32, 42, 74, 79, 111, 163,

193, 215
Deal, 51, 91, 93
Dean Hook, 33
Decorated Queen Anne, 99, 100,

127
Decorative, brasses, Louis XVI,

232; motifs, 54, 60; processes, 52,

83, 92, 124, 140, 198, 221, 257,

283, 299
Delft, 16
Dentil, 191
Derbyshire chair, 36
Design, geometrical, 65; Pompeian,

26
Desk, 74, 87, 88, 119, 171, 217, 219,

231
Detachable top, 166
Dials, clock, brass, 90, 123 ,
Diamond, lattice, Roman, 259
Diaperwork, 60, 94, 142, 318
Dining table, 124, 164, 216
Diocletiak, palace of, 186
Directoire, 275
Dished comers, 114, 165
Dog, ring, 215; ear trims, 122
Dolphin, head feet, 136
Door, circular fronted, 120; glass,

118; glazed and panelled, 171;

panelled, 119
Double, arched back, 79; bead

mouldings, 84; chair-back settee,

111; chest, 118; hooded cabinet,

88; hooded top, 86
Dragon, 63
Drapery, swag, 199
Drawer, chests of, 45, 67; concealed,

84; edges, 116
Drawing table, 43, 44, 165
Dressers, 22, 32, 34, 47, 74, 89, 120
Dressing, cabinets, 82; mirrors, 122,

217; oil, 69; stands, 114, 251;

table, 117; wax, 69

Drop and swag, 127, 193; leaf, 216;

leaf table, 113, 164; pendant, 69
Dropped seat, 192, 212
Drunkard's chair, 16
Dutch, foot, 106; mfluence, 33, 38,

54, 68; peasant furniture, 319;

seat, 153; styles, 73

Eagles, 114; heads, 100, 110, 127
Early Georgian mirrors, 122
Ebony, 51, 91, 140, 197, 221, 257,

283; mirror frames, 90
Egg-and-dart moulding, 180; motif,

199
Egyptian motifs, 275; wing, 284
Elizabethan chairs, 35
Ebn, 51, 124
Emblems, royal, 38
Embroidery, chair covers, 177;

cross stitch, 67
Empire, period, 132, 274; painted

furniture, 323
Endives, 199
English, Chippendale chairs, 155;

tradition, 33
Escallop shell, 94
Escritoires, 135, 231
Escutcheon, 27, 68, 95
Evolutes, 127, 180

Fabrics, 59, 31

Fallmg flap, 87

Fanbacks, Windsor, 110, 314

Fan, motif chairs, Hepplewhite,
214; spandrel, 198, 199, 222

Farmhouse, furniture, 106, 312

Feather, edging, 66; Prince of
Wales, 214, 223

Feet, block, 162, 191, 193, 211;
bracket, 82, 86, 87, 88, 116, 126,
162; bun, 33, 76, &0, 82; Chinese,
154; claw-and-ball, 100, 180;
cloven, 76, 136; club, 106, 120

INDEX

363

Feet, club, 126, 162; cup, inverted,
86; dolphin'shead, 136; Dutch, 66 ;
French, 25, 211, 217, 251; furred
paw, 127; hoof, 106, 126; hoof-
and-ball, 106, 126, 167; leaf, 162;
lion's paw, 100; moulded, 191;
paw, 162; scroll, 162; shaped
bracket, 171; sideboard, 297;
slipper, 126; spade, 23, 89, 191,
193, 216; Spanish scroll, 75, 76,
94, 106, 107; turned, 191; web,
126, 162

Fiddle-back, 78, 108; chairs, 125,
126; splats, 105

Fillets, 60

Finials, 36, 38, 78, 88, 230, 248

Finish, 69, 70, 94, 129, 130, 183,
200, 224, 234, 261, 285, 301

Fire screens, 174, 256

Flat, arched apron, 71; hoop-
backed chairs, Chippendale, 157,
158; legs, 211; splats, 157; top
desks, 119; top rail, 156

Flemish, influence, 38, 58; media,
185; scrolls, 23, 38, 94; scroll
legs, 76

Floral designs, 199; swags, 199, 222;
wreaths, 198, 258

Florentine scrolls, 127

Flowers, 57, 66

Fluted legs, 189; pilasters, 115;
posts, 216

Fluting, 62, 192, 193, 222

Foldmg, bedstead, 240; tables, 82

Foliage, 57

Fontame, 274

Footstools, 32, 35, 39

Forms, 32, 40, 74, 111; mobiliary,
52

Frames, mirror, 49; chairs, 58, 77

France, 131, 274

French, brocades, 177; chairs, 159;
Chippendale, 151; Chippendale
chairs, 155; furniture, Hepple-
white, 209; foot, 25, 211, 217

French, media, 184; period, 174;
polish, 234; taste, 232; tenden-
cy, 205; textile workers, 131;
type, 179

Fret-back chairs, Chippendale, 156

Fretted bracket, 162; brass mounts,
87; Chippendale, chairs, 156; legs,
161, 162, 173; panels, 115, 241,
245; splats, 157; rims, 166

Fretwork, 158, 168, 179, 181;
pierced, 179; applied, 179; method
of applying, 182; Gothic, 26;
foliated, 90

Friends, 308

Frieze, 63, 65; ovolo, 82, 84, 86,
103

Fronts, hombS, 67; pull-down, 254;
serpentine, 23, 67, 248; shaped,
254; sprung, 248; straight, -248;
swell, 251

Fruit, 57, 63, 66

Fuchsia drop, 199; flower pendant,
126

Furnishing and arrangement, 343

Furred paw feet, 127

Gadroons, 62, 160, 165

Gallery, 255

Galon, 192

Gate, tables, 43, 80, 81, 113, 124;
legged desk, 88

Gentleman's and Cabinet-Maker's
Directory, 147

Geometrical, designs, 65; repeats,
158

George I, 99; II, 99; III, 186

German designs, 127; style, mod-
em, 238

Gibbon, Grinling, 49, 89, 92

Gilding, 24, 55, 58, 87, 93, 125, 140,
166, 174, 178, 196, 198, 221, 222,
257, 328

Gillow, 202

364

INDEX

Gilt, furniture, 176; mirrors, 121;
Btands, 118

Girandoles, 196, 283

Glass, 49; bevelled, 90, 121; doors,
118

Glazing, 120, 243, 251, 253; glazed
door, 171

Goat's, head, 199; feet, 199

Gobelin tapestries, 233

Gothic, Chippendale, 151, 155; pil-
lar back, 156, 157; splats, 157;
tables, 166

Grapevines, 62

Greek, curve, 277, 290

Griffins, 114, 199, 300

Grooved legs, 161, 211, 244

Gros Point, 177

Grotesque, animals, 63; heads,
100

Gu^ridons, 122, 139, 209

Guilloche, 60, 199

Handles, bail, 95, 129, 259; cabinet,
door, 69; drawer, 69; drop, 69;
oblong, 223; octagonal, 223; oval,
223; pear drop, 27; round, 223

Hanging, clocks, 299; comer cup-
boards, 120; cupboards, 46

Harewood, 188, 221, 257

Headboards, 68, 112, 164, 230, 248;
piece, 42

Heart, 60

Hepplewhite, 26, 145, 188, 194, 195,
200, 204, 226; chairs, 211; con-
cavity, 209; French furniture,
209; influence, 201; painted fur-
niture, 323; sources, 202; style,
201

Heraldic, devices, 319; tinctures, 326

Herculaneum, 226

Highboys, 74, 85, 115, 117, 126, 169,
251

Hinges, 95, 143; Carolean, 69; cir-
cular, 69; strap, 69

Hogarthian, chair, 110; curve, 110;

leg, 110
Holly, 51, 57, 91, 140, 197, 221, 257
Honduras mahogany, 176
Honeysuckle, 26, 126, 199, 275,

300; back, Hepplewhite, 212
Hooded, top, 71, 82, 84; cornice,

115; roimded, 75; William and

Mary, 123
Hoof feet, 126; and ball feet, 126
Hoop-back chairs, 104, 107, 108, 210,

212, 214, 229, 291
Hope, Thos., 276
Hopetoim House, 186
Huguenots, 24, 92; textile workers,

72; weavers, 16
Husks, pendent, 199
Hutches, 45

Identity, between Hepplewhite and

Sheraton forms, 204
Ince and Mayhew, 267
Infirmary, Royal, 186
Inlay, 24, 46, 55, 56, 57, 66, 125, 127,

140, 141, 179, 188, 198, 206, 219,

221, 239, 250, 257
Interior decoration, 265
Interlaced, heart, 210, 212; splat,

157
Inverted cup, foot, 86; turning, 76
Ionic capitals, 199
Ivory, key-plates, 223, 260

Jacobean, painted furniture, 320,

325; period, 29
James I, 30, 54; II, 97
Japanning, 57, 221, 222, 257
JeweUing, 65
Johnson, Thos., 26
Joinery, 95, 202
Joint stools, 39
Jones, Inigo, 150
Julius Caesar, 33

INDEX

365

Kauffmann, Angelica, 26, 188, 198,

221, 311, 322, 327
Kettle front, 104, 118, 128, 153
Key-plates, 68, 95, 129, 143, 182, 223
Kingwood, 121, 140, 221
Kirkcaldy, 186
Knee, 77; hole secretary, 88
Knife boxes, 191, 195, 254, 282
Knife urns, 254
Knobs, 27, 37, 69, 95, 223, 259, 279,

284,300

Laburnum, 91, 140

Lace box, 345

Lacquer, 24, 55, 57, 74, 81, 86, 90,
93, 125, 126, 128, 179, 221, 222,
257; popularity of, 57; lacquer-
work, 73; colovu: of, 73; lacquered
cabinets, 87, 118

Ladder-back chairs, Chippendale,
156, 158; Hepplewhite, 214

Lattice, diagonal, 241; panelled,
248; Roman diamond, 259

Laurelling, 63

Laurel swags, 94

Leaf feet, 162

Leather, 52, 177

Legs, 67, 277; back, 191; brass
mounted, 250; bulbous, 44; ca-
briole, 23, 83, 117, 119, 120, 126,
148, 161; carved, 39, 76; col-
umnar, 44; cup-turned, 71, 83,
88; flat, 211; Flemish scrolled, 38,
76; fluted, 189; fretted, 161, 162,
173; goat's footed, 76; grooved,
161, 211, 244; Hogaxthian, 110;
Louis XVI, 227; moulded, 76;
reeded, 254; ringed baluster, 44;
round, 189, 211; scrolled, 39;
Sheraton, 244; spiral turned, 37,
47, 83; spindled, 89; splayed, 247;
square, 161, 165, 211; straight,
154, 161, 173, 191, 193; tapered, 23

Legs, tapered, 138, 161, 189, 193,
194, 211, 216, 242; turned, 33,
74,89

Library tables, 119

Lids, hinged, of chests, 45; lifting,
116, 168

Limewood, 49, 51, 91, 124, 197, 221

Lion, period, 127; feet, 275; head
mount, 300; head period, 99,
100; head, 199; lions, 180; paw
feet, 100

Liquidambar, 176

Livery cupboard, 46

Lockwood, Luke Vincent, 103

London, 147, 309; made furniture,
302

Long Island, 306

Looms, English, 38, 72

Louis, Quatorze, 131, 133; Quinze,
131, 127; Seize, 32, 225, 274;
style, 185, 203; motifs, 226; in-
spiration, 238

Louvre, 133, 143

Lowboys, 74, 85, 117, 126; Chippen-
dale, 169; bodies, 169

Low, chests, 116, 217; stands, 87

Lozenge, 63, 65

Lunettes, 60

Lyre, backs, Hepplewhite, 213, 229
motif, 223; m^tif chairs, 246
pattern, 259; shaped clocks, 299
splat, 277

Maces, 65

Macquoid, Percy, 74

Mahogany, 124, 140, 152, 164, 176,

188, 197, 199, 206, 220, 232, 256,

276, 283, 299; colour of, 176;

Honduras, 176; influence of, 152;

inlay, 51, 175; introduction of,

101, 123; properties of, 152, 177;

Spanish, 176
Manor House, Croton-on-Hudson,

124, 306

366

INDEX

Mantel clocks, 196

Manwaring, R., 238, 269

Maple, 52; curly, 257

Marble, 124, 197, 200; top tables,

89, 113; tops, 121, 173
Marie Antoinette, 32
Marqueterie, 24, 55, 56, 57, 66, 72,

74, 81, 86, 90, 93, 124, 125, 126,

141, 198, 221, 222, 257
Marsh, 15

Martin v. vemis-Martin, 321
Maryland furniture, 311
Masques, 63, 180, 199
Materials, 50 123, 197, 220, 232,

256, 283, 299
"Majfflower" furniture, 117
Mayhew, 267
Mazarin, 133
Medallion, 223
Melon, 300; bulb, 66
Metal galleries, 196, 255
Mirrors, 16, 32, 48, 74, 89, 121, 122,

125, 126, 139, 174, 175, 176, 178,

191, 194, 196, 216, 217, 220, 231,

256, 283, 299
Motifs, Rococo, 180
Mouldings, 27, 65, 74, 77, 83, 84,

85, 104, 116, 121, 154, 190, 191,

251
Mounts, 68, 87, 129, 143, 182, 200,

223, 234, 259, 275, 284, 287, 300
Muslin, 233
Musical, instruments, 143; trophies,

267

N
Napoleon, 274, 286
Needlework, 59, 72, 124
New England, 310; cabinet-makers,

304, 305; furniture, 303; painted

furniture, 329
New York, 51, 54, 124, 303
Normans, 54
Notching, 65
Nulling, 63

Oak, 24, 37, 50, 91, 121, 123, 124,

140, 232
Oblong mirrors, 196
Octagonal legs, 76
Ogee, apron, 71, 85, 118; panels, 89
Ogival, arches, 75; tops, 123
Oil, 69
Olive, 90, 91
Oriental taste, 264
Ormolu, 143, 182, 234, 275, 284, 300
Ornament, 52; appUed, 55, 58, 63;

classic, 193, 203; disposal of, 227;

ornamental woods, 206
Oval, 19i; 259; Adam, 211; back,

192, 210, 212, 214; bosses, 65;

handles, 223; key-plates, 129;

mirrors, 196; paterae, 193, 199,

222, 258; tables, 165; weUs, 114;

writing tables, 252
Ovolo, bands, 90; frieze, 82, 86, 87,

103; mouldings, 121, 167
Oystering, 57, 86, 90

Pagoda motif, 180

Paint, 58

Painted furniture, 189, 192, 252,
315, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325,
326, 329; Biedermeyer, 323

Painting, 24, 55, 74, 93, 125, 141,
189, 198, 221, 257

Pahnated pattern, 63, 199

Panels, 40, 57, 65, 66, 88, 89, 90, 94,
115, 119, 143, 171, 189, 198, 211,
219, 221, 246, 248, 298

Panelling, 40, 55, 58, 140; geometri-
cal, 46

Paterae, 60, 192, 193, 199," 222, 258,
299, 333

Paw feet, 162

Pear, 57, 65, 91, 124; drop handles,
27; wood, 49

Pearling, 222

INDEX 367

Pedestal, 122, 255, 277, 294; side- Pompeii, 226

board pedestals, 191, 195; tables, Portuguese influence, 37

281 Posts, 63, 65, 67, 62; bed, 42

Pediment, 23, 82, 89, 104, 115, 120, Post-Colonial American furniture,

128, 154, 168, 172, 190, 243 132

Pembroke tables, 216, 248 Precious woods, 57

Pendant, 63; acorn, 36, 85; drop, Pre-Director chair-backs, 157

brass, 69; husk, 143, 199, 222 Press cabinet, 86; pressed-glass
Pennsylvania, Dutch painted furni- knobs, 300

ture, 324; furniture, 123, 307 Presses, 209

Percier, 274 Prince of Wales feathers, 223, 214

Pergolesi, 188, 221, 327 Processes, decorative, 52, 83

Perpendicular, legs, 103; Sheraton, Pull-down fronts, 171, 218, 254 295

240
Petit point, 72, 92, 124, 177 Q

Philadelphia, cabinet-makers, 309; Quadrant, 171, 218

furniture, 124, 303, 307, 308; Quadrangular legs, 76

joiners, 309 Quatrefoils, 181

Phyfe, Duncan, 226, 228; sofa, 292; Quarter-round, fluted pillars, 168;

sofa table, 294 section, fluted pillars, 169

Piecrust table, 166 Queen Anne, 97-99, 117, 128;
Pied de biche, 136 painted furniture, 321, 326

Pierced, fretwork, 179, 212; splat. Queen Mary, 73

108, 157; Hepplewhite, 212
Pier table, 196, 295 R

Pigeon-holes, 87 Rail, 62, 63, 67; top and bottom, 37,
Pilasters, 298; fluted, 115; at comers, 38; metal, 196

119 Raised rim, 166

Pillars, 47, 48, 275; quarter round. Rake, chair-back, 37, 104

168, 169; and barred splats, 157; Raleigh, Sir Walter, 123

bed, 68, 216 Ram's head, 199, 222

Pine, 49, 51, 91, 124, 176, 197, 221, 257 Range tables, 248; Hepplewhite, 216

Pineapple, 26, 199, 275, 300; bed- Recessed, front, 195; stretchers, 105,

stead, 294 191

Plate, chased, 27; perforated, 27 Rectilinear element, 189, 190; prin-
Plaques, painted, 98; Wedgwood, ciples, 227; panel, 211

189, 197 Reeding, 62, 193, 222; reeded legs,
Pointed arches, 181 254

Polishes, 351 Refectory tables, 39

PoUarded posts, 293 Regence style, 134

Polygonal ends, 251 Renaissance, 142, 318, 319; feeling.
Polychrome treatment, 319 184

Pomegranate, 63 Reproductions, 337

Pompeian, design, 26; details, 199; Restoration, 31, 35, 37, 42, 43, 55,

sources, 191; motifs, 198 59; chair, 38; influences, 54

368

INDEX

Ribband backs, 156, 158
Ribbon, 158, 198; design, 199, 222
Ringed, cabriole, 276; baluster legs,

44; turning, 126
Rippled figure mahogany, 176
Rising, stretcher, 138; top rail, 246
Rococo, 142; motifs, 180; patterns,

182; style, 135; scrolls, 139;

ornament, 114
Rolled-overarms sofa, 163;Hepple-

white, 215
Roll-top desk, 231
Roman diamond lattice, 259
Rome, 275

Rosewood, 121, 176, 257, 299, 283
Rosette, 127, 222; guilloche, 60
Rose, 38, 55, 60, 199
Round, paterae, 222, 258; legs, 189,

211; back chairs, Heoplewhite, 210
Roundel, 38, 60

Royal, architect, 265; Infirmary, 186
Rush-bottom chair, 107; seats, 79

Sacking bottom, 92

Saltire, 233, 246; stretchers, 136,
138, 191

San Domingo, 176

Satin, 80

Satyr masque period, 99, 100, 127

Satinwood, 24, 157, 188, 197, 206,
221, 232; furniture, 189, 198;
chairs, 200

Scallop shell ornament, 69, 126, 169

Schuylkill wahiut, 177, 308

Sconces, Adam, 194, 196

Scrolls, 50; foUated, 62, 127; flori-
ated, 62; Flemish, 38, 94; carved,
38; feet, 162; S, 149; C, 149; legs
209; swan neck, 248

Scutcheons, 129, 143

Seats, round and square, 277;
shaped, 77; padded, 58; chairs, 67;
Q. A., 106; hinged, 40; square and
triangular, 34; "stitched up," 159

Seats, Dutch, 153; shape of, 230;
Hepplewhite, 211; dropped, 129,
212; Adam, 191; carved, 192;
upholstered, 192; Sheraton, 245;
serpentine, 245; bowed, 245; seat-
rails, 67, 106, 126, 136, 160, 230;
seat-frames, 211

Secretaries, 74, 89, 171, 218, 282;
knee-hole, 88; Q. A., 119; book-
case, 218; Adam, 194

Segmental top, 117

Semi-circular, table, 165; bay, 194

Semi-oval, side tables, 191; bay, 194;
front, 209

Serpentine, front, 23, 67, 153, 167,
189, 193, 209, 210, 216, 217, 219,
245, 248, 259, 281; stretchers, 85;
top rail, 157, 212

Settee,21, 33,40,41, 79, 91, 111, 129,
163, 177, 192, 215, 247, 248, 279

Settle, 111

Shaped, front, 167, 254; bracket
feet, 171

dearer, Thos., 22, 72, 195, 219, 238;
design, 239; sideboard, 204
/Sheraton, 26, 132, 195, 200, 204, 205,
235; adaptation, 225; convexity,
209; mirrors, 298; painted furni-
ture, 323; sideboard, 219

Shield-back, 210, 212

Shelves, hanging, 44, 80, 90, 174

Shell ornament, 99, 169

Sideboard, 22, 32, 47, 89, 151, 191,
297; Adam, 196; Hepplewhite,
219; mirrors, 273, 282, 298;
pedestals, 191,196; semi-oval, 191;
Sheraton, 204, 219, 254; tables,
22, 195; tables, Chippendale, 173,
174

Side tables, 89, 114, 121, 126, 151,
166

Single-hooded work, 103

Silks, 80, 233

Silver, 51

Skirts, shaped, 84

INDEX

369

Slant-top desk, 87, 171, 219

Slat-bade, chair, 312; slats, 3

Sleigh bed, 293

Slipper feet, 106, 126, 167

Small furnishings, 344; furniture,
Chippendale, 176

Sofas, 38, 41, 74, 163, 192, 215, 230,
247, 279, 291, 292; sofa tables, 251

Southern, colonies, 311; states, 303

Spanish, mahogany, 176; feet, 75;
scroU feet, 76, 94, 106, 107

Spade feet, 23, 189, 191, 193, 206,
211

Spandrel fans, 198, 199, 222, 258

Spalatro, 186

Sphinx, 114, 300

Spiral, turning, 37, 38, 47, 59, 75, 94,
250, 277; legs, 83; wreathing, 216,
300

Spindle, 36, 46, 66, 85; turning, 76,
89

Spinning-top tiiming, 76

Spitalfields, 24; looms, 16

Splayed gadroons, 165

Splat, 108, 125, 157; beaded, 157;
carved, 157; central, 78; Chippen-
dale, 149, 181; flat, 157; fretted
pillars, 157; interlaced strap, 157;
pierced, 108, 209; Gothic, 157;
vertical, 157

Spht balusters, 65

Splat-backed chairs, Chippendale,
156

Spooning, 78, 107

Spoonback, 104

Sprung front, 248, 281

Square, backs, 109, 156, 157, 158,
253; legs, 161^ 165, 211; paterae,
258; seats, 77

Squab cushions, 79, 91, 111

Stands, 83; for chests, 168; six-
legged, 84; cabinet, 87

Stained woods, 57; stains, chemical,
197

Stepped curve, 154,158

St. Giles, 203

St. Martins Lane, 146, 147; in-the-

Fields, 147
Stool, 37, 39, 40, 58, 74, 110, 162,

192, 214, 230, 241, 279
St. Ouen, 318
Stockton-on-Tees, 235
Stiles, 40, 62, 65, 67
"Stitched-up" seat, 159
Strained, fabrics, 112; covering, 80
Straight, fronts, 167; legs, 154, 161,

173, 191, 193, 209; top rail, 157;

lines, Sheraton, 204, 210
Strap, work, 65, 60; hinges, 69
Stretchers, 35, 37, 38, 39, 44, 67, 104,

166, 181, 231, 291, 300; Adam,

191; bulb turned, 76; concave, 85;

flat, 85; hooped, 38; Louis XVI,

227; ogee, 85; recessed, 191 ; rising,

76, 138; saltire, 36, 76, 80, 138,

191, 243; scroll carved, 76; shaped,

71, 75, 85; Sheraton, 259; Spanish,

76; straight, 76
Structure, 67, 95, 128, 199, 223, 234
Stucco, 200
Stuffed arm sofas, 163; Hepplewhite,

215
Sunflower, 63
Sunk table tops, 166
Sun ray motif, 117
Swan-neck, pediment, 117, 169;

scroll, 248
Swags and drops, 127, 193, 258;

floral, 199, 222; drapery, 199
Swell fronts, 128, 135, 251, 288
Sweden, 263; Swedish East India

Co., 263
Swept^-whorl top rail, 156
Swivelled mirrors, 90
Sycamore, 91, 140, 197, 221, 257

Tables, 37, 39, 43, 74, 165, 170, 294,
295; Adam, 193; American Em-
pire, 294; American tripod, 167

370

INDEX

Tables, bedside, 114; butterfly, 82;
Chippendale, 164; circular, 114;
console, 114, 124, 126, 196; dining,
80, 164; drawing, 43, 44, 165;
drop leaf, 113, 164; Empire pedes-
tal, 280; folding, 82; gate, 43, 44,
80, 124; Hepplewhite, 216, 217;
library, 119; Louis XVI, 23 1 ; long,
43; oval, 165; piecrust, 166; pier,
196; Queen Anne, 112; rectangu-
lar, 43, 82; refectory, 39; semi-
circular, 165, 193; Sheraton, 248,
249, 250; side, 126, 166; side-
board, 114, 121, 151, 173, 174,
195; sofa, 251; tea, 166; tripod,
114, 166; writing, 119

Tabourets, 230

Tapered, legs, 189, 193, 194, 211,
242; legs, 23, 138, 161, 216; posts,
215

Tapestry, 233; Aubusson, 233;
Beauvais, 233; Gobelin, 233

Tall case clocks, 50, 90, 123, 175, 196

Tallboy, 82, 115

Tall mirrors, 121

Tambour, top, 219; work, 219

Tea, tables, 113, 166; caddies, 344

Tent stitch, 92

Terminal figures, 94

Tester, 34, 42, 68, 112, 138, 164, 216,
248

Textile workers, 59, 72, 131

Thuja wood, 221

Three-cornered cupboards, 89, 119,
173, 219, 251

Three-sectional cabinets, 170

Tinctures, heraldic, 58

TopraU, 35, 156, 247, 278, 290;
arched, 157; bow curved, 212,
246; Chippendale, 156; "Cupid's-
bow," 157; flat hoop-back, 157;
hoop-shaped, 228; panelled, 246;
pierced, 247; raised, 245; serpen-
tine, 157; Sheraton, 245; Straight,
157, 245; swept whorl, 157

Top, 190; cornice, 47; hooded, 71;

segmental, 117; straight, 187;

triple hooded, 84
TorchSres, 231
Tortoiseshell, 140, 142
Torches, 139, 135
Torus frieze, 103
Tracery, 251, 253, 282; Sheraton,

243; Hepplewhite, 211, 218, 296,

297
Trestles for tables, 43
Triple, section bookcase, 172; chests,

168; hooded top, 84
Tripod, tables, 114, 166; furniture,

174
Truckle beds, 43, 80, 112
Trumpet turning, 85
Tubbed fronts, 172
Tulip, viotif, 257, 325; wood, 60,

197, 221
TurkeyTv^ork, 59
Turned, feet, 191; legs, 37, 244, 254;

tables, 114; work, 59
Turning, 38, 43, 55, 76, 92, 124, 125,

126, 140, 179, 198, 221, 222, 257,

283, 300; baluster, 76; mverted

cup, 76; melon bulb, 66; spindle,

66, 76; spiiming top, 76; spu-al, 59,

66, 75; trumpet, 85; vase-and-baU,

313
Types of design, 94, 126, 179, 199,

222, 233, 258, 284, 300

U
Underframmg, 39, 94, 193
Upholstered, arm-chairs, 191; backs,

228; settees, 248
Upholstery, 52, 55, 58, 59, 66, 91,

124, 140, 177, 211, 233
Uprights, 35, 36, 37, 38, 77, 154, 159,

245
Urn, 255, 259; Adam, 190, 193, 196,

199
Um-shaped, finiaJ, 248; knife boxes,

195

INDEX

371

Valance, 112, 248

Van Cortlandt, 124

Varnish, 27, 69

Vase, 199; Adam, 190; and ball

turning, 313; back, Hepplewhite,

213; finial, 86, 88, 116, 251, 248;

motif, chairback, 46; turning, 126
Velvet, 59, 80, 92, 124; cut pile, 67
Veneer, 24, 57, 93, 141, 198, 221;

Hepplewhite, 222; oyster, 86;

woods, 91, 140
Veneering, 55, 125, 129, 179, 157,

283,284
Vermilion, 26

Vemis-Martin, 141, 321, 322
Vertical, balusters, 246; line, 227;

pierced splat, 157
Violet wood, 140
'^ginia, Maryland and Carolina,

311

Wanscot, 35, 91

Wall-paper, 73

Wahiut, 50, 74, 177, 299; on oak, 57 ;
William and Mary, 37, 90, 123,
129, 140, 232; burr, 108, 308

Wardrobes, 23, 46, 220, 282, 298;
Chippendale, 174; Sheraton, 255

Ware, Isaac, 149, 268

Washstand, 256

Waterleaf, 193, 199, 216, 222, 258

Wax, 69

Web feet, 126, 162

Wedgwood plaques, 189, 197

Wells, oval, 114

Welsh, dresser, 89; origin, 48

West Jersey furniture, 307
Wheat ears, 223

Wheel back, Adam, 192; Hepple-
white, 214
Whistler, 144
Whorled veneer, 57
Willard banjo clocks, 299
William and Mary, design, 128;

painted furniture, 320, 326
Window seats, 163; Adam, 193;

Hepplewhite, 215
Windsor chair, 109; American, 314
Wine cooler, 196, 255
Wing chair, 108, 111, 300
Winged, claw feet, ^92; settee, 79
Wooden furniture, 312
Worcester, 147

Work, boxes, 344; tables, 217, 250
"Works in Architecture of Robert

and James Adam, Esqs.," 187
Wormholes, 334
Woven goods, 52
Wreaths, Adam, 193; floral, 198,

258; spural, 216
Writing, furniture, 87, 170, 217, 231;

Sheraton, 252; tables, 119, 170,

217, 249
Wyvems, 275

X-shaped chairs, 35

Yorkshire chairs, 36; origin, 48
Yew, 124

Zucchi, 188
Zig-zag, 338

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Full text of "The practical book of period furniture, treating of furniture of the English, American colonial and post-colonial and principal French periods"

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